Has anyone whom popular culture has “canceled” ever managed to make a comeback? As in, they owned up to it, publicly apologized, and then were forgiven? Or something approaching that scenario?
About the only examples I can think of are Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr. Neither of them were really “canceled” in the 2023 sense of the way the word is used, but either way, both of their careers were effectively dead in the water at one point. Ryder for shoplifting, Downey Jr. for drug use. Both seem to have gotten on the straight and narrow and have resumed their careers.
Mel Gibson had a brief revival…after his arrest, antisemitic rants and spousal abuse allegations, he made a few more tentative forays back into Hollywood (starting with Edge of Darkness, in which his character spoke Latin for no readily apaprent reason. He’s since slid into right wing wankery (Father Stu, Dragged Across Concrete) but he’s still making a living.
I seen some commercials that Roseanne Barr is making a comeback. Apparently she hasn’t changed her tune much, she is still promising to make everyone uncomfortable.
As mentioned, Dave Chapelle, Louis CK, Roseanne Barr
I saw Michael Richards on Comedians in Cars after his blowup
A few athletes were dropped by teams for domestic abuse or sexual assault and picked up again
Maybe Pete Townshend. When the news came out that he had been caught up in Operation Ore and accessed a child porn site it looked like his career was over. 20 years on his reputation has been redeemed for the most part, but there are still people who think the “doing research” explanation is total BS.
I think Louis CK is probably the only answer that really fits here, at least so far. He lost a massive amount of work over being cancelled, and it took a while for him to build his career back up to where he’s selling out stadiums and getting Grammy awards again.
I wouldn’t count David Chapelle, because I don’t think he was really “cancelled.” There absolutely was an attempt, but at most he had a couple of individual shows cancelled. His career didn’t really suffer significantly because of the controversy. Likewise, JK Rowling. Lots of controversy, but the Harry Potter game still did very well, and she’s still getting her new books published.
I’m not sure if Roseanne Barr counts or not yet. My impression of her “comeback” tour is that she’s making the rounds of the right-wing grievance circuit. If you get cancelled for being racist, and you turn your career into performing specifically for people who approve of your racism, I’m not sure that’s really being “uncancelled.”
I agree that Robert Downey Jr. (AKA Iron Man) can qualify.
He cleaned up his act after eating a bad cheeseburger from Burger King by having a premonition something bad was going to happen to him and afterwards drove to the ocean and threw all his drugs into the ocean in 2003.
( The scene from Iron Man with the cheeseburger was a nod to that incident. )
Mark Wahlberg, assuming you feel he was ever cancelled to start with. But he’s an example of somebody who was able to have a career after doing terrible things.
Paula Poundstone’s career took a nosedive after she was arrested for driving drunk with kids in the car. She’s back doing stand-up, voice parts, and, of course, Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.
Nope, not even remotely. “Cancelled” means you lost your career, or at least had it significantly set back, because of public outrage over something you’ve done or said, usually something non-criminal. Downey lost his career because he was too fucked up on drugs to work, and kept getting locked up by the cops for possession. He was never the target of any sort of public outrage or controversy, just a bunch of depressing TMZ stories about a guy struggling with addiction and nearly losing.
Well, thing is that I take into account the outrage and uneasiness that their past history caused to the executives wondering if it would be a good idea to bring them back. They were taking into account the possible public outrage of allowing them in.
