We can do better than that. How about,
Random selected commentary on “cancel culture” in the spoiler. I found it interesting that for example the Hannity quote seems to support cancel culturedef 1 but oppose cancel culturedef 2. Actually I was having difficulty finding transcripts of Hannity or Carlson speaking about cancel culture by name.
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"I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media, there is this sense sometimes of: ‘The way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people,’ and that’s enough. Like, if I tweet or hashtag about how you didn’t do something right or used the wrong verb, then I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself, cause, ‘Man, you see how woke I was, I called you out.’
[Then he pretended to sit back and press the remote to turn on a television.]
“That’s not activism. That’s not bringing about change. If all you’re doing is casting stones, you’re probably not going to get that far. That’s easy to do.”
~Barack Obama, former President of the United States, speaking at the Obama Foundation Summit on 10/30/2019 (described as a criticism of cancel culture by The New York Times on 10/31/2019)
" Cancel culture is a little bit like fake news . It’s a term that means everything and nothing. It’s just shouted out there as a signal. If you say that the Suess family choosing to not publish some books is cancel culture, then you have no idea what that means."
~Dan Pfeiffer, former Senior Advisor to President Obama for Strategy and Communications, interview for Slate Magazine , published 04/14/2021
"In case you think we are overstating Frank Luntz’s allegiance to corporate power, take a look at his Twitter feed sometime if you’re ever bored, quote: ‘Delta employees made them the top-rated airline,’ he wrote last January in what sounded very much like a press release. ‘That’s something only good workers can do, not shareholders.’
"Then not long ago when Donald Trump called for boycotting Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, after they interfered in a very shocking way, right in the middle of Georgia’s political system, Luntz came to the defense of them. Of course, they’re his clients.
" ‘This left-wing cancel culture is out of control.’ He wrote mockingly."
~Tucker Carlson, talk show host, on his 04/30/2021 Tucker Carlson Tonight broadcast (transcript on Fox News)
"The only way I can do one more special is if it’s at the end of my television career because it will end my television career. We’re in the cancel culture now. No stand-up that is sponsor-driven can say anything he wants to. Chris Rock can’t. Kevin Hart can’t. Cedric the Entertainer can’t. D.L. Hughley can’t. I can go down the list. The only person that can say what they want to say on stage is Dave Chappelle because he’s not sponsor-driven. He’s subscription-driven.
"If I had tried to continue as a stand-up, there’s no way I could maintain it. Political correctness has killed comedy. Every joke you tell now, it hurts somebody’s feelings. But what people don’t understand about comedians is that a joke has to be about something. It has to be about somebody. We can’t write jokes about puppies all the time. The joke can’t be about bushes all the time. Some of these jokes will have to be about people, because that’s the most interesting topic. So if I come back, I’ll have to wait until I’m done. And I’m not done. I want to do one more. I’ll probably have to call it ‘This Is It.’ "
~Steve Harvey, entertainer, speaking at the Television Association Press Tour, as reported by Variety on 01/11/2022
"But here’s the great thing about living in a free country, if you don’t like what Whoopi Goldberg said, guess what? Change the channel. If you don’t like her show, change the channel. You don’t like Stephen Colbert, Kimmel or Fallon constantly shilling for Democrats, telling bad jokes, don’t watch it. No one is forcing you to. You don’t have to tune in. Censorship via big government, corporations is never the answer.
“Tonight, I’m calling on everyone on all these other networks, you’re on ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, fake news CNN, you need to denounce censorship and stop with the boycotts and stop with the feigned moral outrage and you know what? None of you are perfect either and when you make a mistake, you should get the same forgiveness if you’re sincere in your apology.”
~Sean Hannity, talk show host, on his 02/01/2022 broadcast of Hannity (tagged “cancel culture” on Fox News)
"You talk about cancel culture, but notice that those discussions only go one way. We don’t talk about all the people who were fired. You just kind of talk about, like, right-leaning podcast bros and more conservative figures. But, for example, Marc Lamont Hill was fired for discussing an issue with respect to Palestinians, pretty summarily."
~Alexandrio Ocasio-Cortez, U.S. Representative for New York’s 14th District, interview for The New Yorker , published 02/14/2022