# Has Anyone Ever Been Un-Canceled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** actor-characters\ **Created:** [March 3, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654 "2023-03-03T15:17:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/41 "2023-03-03T21:33:46Z")
Thanks for the clarification/correction. Though I’m of the firm conviction that alcohol cannot magically turn you into a racist if you aren’t one when sober, I don’t think that EC really is or was a racist. I have always chalked up the incident as a post-pubescent stance of edginess, and yeah, punk attitude. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/42 "2023-03-03T22:07:02Z")
George Michael probably was ‘cancelled’ by certain segments of society after his arrest in 1998, but he went on to become a National Treasure in the UK. Mind you, he still had considerable problems with his health and sobriety after this, so it wasn’t plain sailing for him. ---
**Author:** ![Jaycat.again](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat.again/32/11525_2.png) [@Jaycat.again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaycat.again)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/43 "2023-03-03T22:43:46Z")
Does Ryan Adams qualify yet? ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/44 "2023-03-03T23:36:50Z")
Hmmm…James Gunn? He was “cancelled” for about 30 seconds. Maybe - I genuinely can’t recall how much public outcry there was before Disney fired him. But he seemed genuinely contrite about his past attempts at humor and had a number of co-workers vouching/lobbying for him. Plus some talent and he is a Hollywood earner. His rehabilitation was speedy. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/45 "2023-03-03T23:45:54Z")
Comedian Kevin Hart was set to host the Oscars when old homophobic jokes surfaced. He ended up losing his gig. > **[Kevin Hart pulls out as Oscars host after backlash over homophobic tweets and...](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/ncna945071)** > > The comedian tweeted that he was dropping out of the gig because he didn't want to be a "distraction" on Hollywood's big night. His mainly known now for being buddies with The Rock, or for being in credit card commercials. > **[Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart do viral tortilla TikTok challenge: More funny...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/celebrities/2022/07/20/dwayne-johnson-kevin-hart-funniest-friendship-moments/10109878002/)** > > Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart have shared a lot of screen time over the years, but the two have also won fans over with their off screen banter. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [March 3, 2023, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/46 "2023-03-03T23:57:59Z")
William Talman was canceled by the production company for having been seen at a dubious party, but it only lasted a month or so before they brought him back. I am not aware of any genuine contrition on his part. ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/47 "2023-03-04T04:10:13Z")
Formerly [The Dixie Chicks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chicks), this country band, in 2003, and right before the start of the war in Iraq, made a statement on a stage in the UK about being against the war and that they were ashamed that Bush was from Texas. Much hate and backlash ensued, and they were blacklisted from virtually all U.S. country radio stations. They’ve performed together after a hiatus, and even put out a new album after 14 years, but I’ll leave it to others to judge if they’ve yet been ‘un-canceled.’ ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/48 "2023-03-04T04:29:47Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > > [@RitterSport](#): > > > > I agree with you here. How about Ms. Poundstone? > > Maybe? I remember her arrest for drunk driving with her foster kids in the car, but I don’t recall a lot of public outrage over it. She’s a pretty minor celebrity, really, so I don’t think it was on a lot of people’s radars to begin with, and she didn’t have much to be cancelled from. Looking at her wiki page, her TV work does drop off dramatically for about ten years right around her arrest, but her other work didn’t appear to have been affected. Hard to say if that was because of the scandal, or just the vagaries of showbiz, though. As I THINK I remember it, she was accused of molestation of some sort by one of her adopted children, a boy with behavioral problems. The charges were deemed groundless. She did however plead guilty to drunk driving with kids in the car (child endangerment, I assume) because in her own words, “It was true.” I either read or heard the interview where she said this. She said it was the wake up call she needed that led to her getting herself straightened out. Again, this is my unreliable memory of the events. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/49 "2023-03-04T05:43:47Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > 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. He did get an Oscar nomination for Best Director for Hacksaw Ridge. ---
**Author:** ![MortSahlFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3bc359/32.png) [@MortSahlFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MortSahlFan)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/50 "2023-03-04T13:38:43Z")
Did you (or anyone else) see Roseanne’s comedy special? I haven’t, and wanted to see if anyone else liked it, because I haven’t heard anyone mention it. I liked “Blonde and Bitchin’” and the original Roseanne Show was great – real working-class family that talked about real issues. The episode on race is probably the best on TV. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/51 "2023-03-04T14:13:08Z")
If you’re heavily right-wing you generally don’t get cancelled-you just move over to the warm embrace of Fox where some folks don’t see you, and thusly it’s out of sight, out of mind. Roseanne’s one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/52 "2023-03-04T15:53:47Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I saw Michael Richards on Comedians in Cars after his blowup “Cancelled” doesn’t mean executed. It also doesn’t mean they are legally banned from all forms of media. One appearance with his friend doesn’t mean uncancelled. The fact remains that Michael Richards has barely done any work in entertainment since his incident. He did a couple of cameos as himself in Curb with the rest of the Seinfeld cast. From what I understand much of it is self imposed exile. Hard to know what kind of work he could get if he was trying. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/53 "2023-03-04T16:03:05Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > His mainly known now for being buddies with The Rock, or for being in credit card commercials. Mainly known by who? He’s arguably the biggest (no pun intended) comic in the US if not the world. Right before the pandemic and after the Oscar thing he was selling out areanas and was the highest grossing comic. He does tours consisting of just areanas. He became buddies with Dwayne Johnson and is in movies with him because he was a hugely successful comic first. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/54 "2023-03-04T16:08:31Z")
How about Justin Timberlake? He and Janet Jackson were both “canceled” in the wake of the Superbowl wardrobe malfunction. I don’t think she ever recovered (like most Superbowl halftime stars, her career was already on the decline), but he’s now more successful than ever. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/55 "2023-03-04T16:16:59Z")
Tiger Woods and Michael Vick are proof that, in sports, winning cures almost all problems. Which makes sense. It’s fundamentally a profession where delivering results is all that matters. When Vick was lighting up Washington with 6 touchdown passes on that Monday Night massacre, what Eagles fan could possibly complain about his dogfighting past? ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/56 "2023-03-04T16:18:26Z")
Al Franken’s trying for a comeback. > **[Al Franken Headlines Politicon In Public Comeback](https://www.huffpost.com/entry/al-franken-comeback-politicon_n_5db2300be4b0a89374020d55)** > > The former Minnesota lawmaker reflected on his time on the Hill, criticized Trump and cracked jokes during his speech at the “Comic-Con of politics" on Saturday in Nashville. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/57 "2023-03-04T16:34:44Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > How about Justin Timberlake? He and Janet Jackson were both “canceled” in the wake of the Superbowl wardrobe malfunction. I don’t think she ever recovered (like most Superbowl halftime stars, her career was already on the decline), but he’s now more successful than ever. There was some outcry about the double standard, some from Ms. Jackson. Timberlake was able to take a step back and say nothing and all of the negativity was focused on her. I don’t remember any calls to cancel him. If anything the criticism came later when people pointed out he let Janet take all the heat. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/58 "2023-03-04T16:59:55Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > Hmmm…James Gunn? He was “cancelled” for about 30 seconds. Maybe - I genuinely can’t recall how much public outcry there was before Disney fired him. But he seemed genuinely contrite about his past attempts at humor and had a number of co-workers vouching/lobbying for him. Plus some talent and he is a Hollywood earner. His rehabilitation was speedy. Yeah, that was super weird. He’d made some Tweets years earlier, when he was working for Adult Swim, that had a lot of crude jokes about pedophilia and homosexuality. But almost nobody on the left, in particular among gay rights orgs, gave a shit. The “outrage” was coming entirely from right-wing, homophobic trolls who were making a “liberal hypocrisy” argument. You know, “The left is hypocritical for not firing Gunn for these Tweets, when they fired for doing ”. Around the same time, they abruptly fired comic book writer Chuck Wendig and cancelled his new, highly anticipated series of _Star Wars_ comics, because the writer had a habit of Tweeting mean things about Donald Trump and his supporters. AFAIK, there was no controversy around the guy, other than low level Twitter drama that attends any politically conscious celebrity account. At the time, one of the high ups in the Marvel org was a guy named Ike Perlmutter, who was an arch-conservative and real asshole. He’s apparently the reason it took Marvel so long to do a movie with a non-white or non-male lead. He was finally forced out around the time covid started. There’s a theory that the whole Gunn thing (and Chuck Wendig’s firing) was Perlmutter throwing a tantrum. ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/59 "2023-03-04T18:17:03Z")
> [@EllisDee](#): > > He did get an Oscar nomination for Best Director for Hacksaw Ridge. Yeach, I typed that but then lost my post in a glitch and forgot to re-type it. It was bizarre, seeing him all “aw-shucks” bashful at the ceremony that year. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 4, 2023, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654/60 "2023-03-04T18:34:52Z")
I think the answers to this point to an issue with “cancelling”, or whatever it should be called. When someone commits a crime, the penal system has a few goals: 1. Protecting the public. 2. Justice (or vengeance) for the victim. 3. Rehabilitating the guilty. 4. Deterring other potential wrongdoers. Not that our system works great, but at least we have clear procedures that at least try to achieve all four goals. And for all but the most egregious offenses, there’s an end-point: the guilty person is sentenced, they serve the sentence, and then they’re free to go. Most importantly, **they don’t get a choice in the process.** They can (to some degree) choose how much they’re rehabilitated by the experience, but that mostly applies to whether they reoffend and reenter the process. When someone commits some awful act that won’t be addressed by the judiciary system, it seems like these same four goals ought to apply. Removing the livelihood of an entertainer who goes off on a racist rant, for example, protects the public from his nonsense, it gives justice/vengeance to those he was attacking, and it deters others from committing similar acts. But the process for rehabilitation is not clear, and neither is the end of the process. And whatever end to the process we hope for, it seems to be largely dependent on the wrongdoer’s penance. But it’s not clear what penance would be satisfactory. It’s not like I have answers here. But without a clear end, and without clear rehabilitation, and with reliance on the wrongdoer’s choices but no clear correct choices, I think we end up in the situation we’ve got with Louis CK and others: they initially looked willing to make some sort of amends, but they realized both that it’s not clear what counts as amends, and that they don’t really need to do so in order to end the process and get back in the game. The question itself–has anyone been un-canceled?–implies that canceling is lifelong. Is it meant to be? Is there a way to clarify? Would it be a helpful thing for someone (not the victim) to set up a process for the wrongdoers such that they could make meaningful amends, and so that the public would largely agree that they had completed the process? Like I say, I got no answers, but I’m dissatisfied with how things are currently working and am curious if there’s a better way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-ever-been-un-canceled/980654.md?page=4)