Cancel culture: Will 2022’s cancelled celebrities make 2023 comebacks?
If we’ve learned anything about cancel culture in the last few years, it’s that being cancelled doesn’t necessary mean, well, being cancelled.
Harvey Weinstein had been cancelled. But then there he was, sipping on a drink in a public bar, without a care in the world. J.K. Rowling had been cancelled too. But then there she was, on The One Show, interviewed by Stephen Fry about her children’s book, and no questions were asked about her trans views.
Here are five celebrities that were cancelled in 2022 and our predictions for whether or not their cancellation will be permanent or forgotten next year.
Who was cancelled? Will Smith
What happened? In case you haven’t left the house or turned on the TV all year, here’s a recap: Will Smith slapped Chris Rock in the face in front of an audience of 17 million on stage at the Oscars this February. Rock made a joke about Smith’s wife, the actor Jada Pinkett-Smith. Smith has since apologised and sought therapy.
A number of Smith’s projects were initially delayed, including Emancipation, which was generating Oscar buzz before the slap. Netflix cancelled a project called Bright and production on Fast & Loose and Bad Boys 4 was delayed. It’s not clear if the delays are directly linked to Smith’s Oscars slap, but an apology on social media was well-received and Fast & Loose and Bad Boys 4 are now in pre-production, according to Imdb.
What happens next? Of course it’s impossible to tell, but Smith is so well-loved that it’s unlikely the slap will affect his career and reputation in the long term. By long term, we’re talking in five years’ time. For the next couple of years it’d make sense that he’s going to repeat the story about how he’s seeking counselling, behave incredibly well at public events, and look to slowly get his pre-slap projects out the door to show he’s still the actor we all knew and loved from before. It was a horrendously inexcusable act, but wasn’t in-keeping with Smith’s public image, so in time it could go down as a one-off: not be forgotten, but forgiven.
Who was cancelled? Kanye West
What happened? Kanye has sadly lost fans throughout 2022 as he has continued making bizarre rants that have contained anti-Semitic sentiments. He has also been asked by his ex-wife Kim Kardashian to stop publically revealing messages sent by her or her former partner Pete Davidson to his masses of followers on social media.
What happens next? Kanye doesn’t have the likability that Smith has always had in droves. 2022 has been the culmination of years of outbursts that have been damaging for his reputation. As early as 2009 West stormed the stage when Taylor Swift won at the VMAs and declared that Beyoncé should have won instead. His streaming and physical sales have declined as a response and it’s reported that he’s lost billions in sponsorship deals.
West’s onslaughts have felt more sustained and intentional than Smith’s, and there have been calls for him to attend therapy, with fans saying they’re seriously worried for his mental health.
Who was cancelled? James Corden
What happened? A New York restaurant tweeted saying they’d banned Corden for being rude to waiting staff and it inspired a load of other people who’ve run into him over the years to share their alleged negative experiences. One person said Corden put his earphones in and ignored the drama while his wife cared for their screaming baby on a flight.
What happens next? Corden’s main gig is presenting The Late Late Show in the States but his contract runs out next year. He had already decided to leave the show before the reports of bad behaviour emerged. Unlike Smith and West, Corden doesn’t have a high pedigree of work outside of The Late Late Show to fall back on. His films, including the recent flop Cats, have been unpopular, so much so, a poll asking for him to stop being cast in new films went viral. He’s well-loved for British TV show Gavin & Stacey, and there is supposedly more of that to come, but it’s not a big enough project to sustain him post-talk show. It’s not clear which direction he’ll take, but with his reputation weakened by the allegations, some of which he has admitted to and apologised for, and without the cachet he’d like around his acting career, it seems likely that he will take some time to work out the logical next step without rushing into anything else that could flop. Corden’s future feels unpredictable.
Who was cancelled? Jimmy Carr
What happened? Carr was among them first of 2022’s celebrity victims of cancel culture when in January a line from His Dark Materials comedy special went viral.
The joke went: “When people talk about the Holocaust, they talk about the tragedy and horror of six million Jewish lives being lost to the Nazi war machine. But they never mention the thousands of Gypsies that were killed by the Nazis. No one ever wants to talk about that, because no one ever wants to talk about the positives.”
Carr was quickly condemned, including by politicians and the media.
What happens next? Carr is proof that being much-loved is often the antidote to being cancelled. Despite never apologising, he has remained popular. He even has a new, if controversial, show about, erm, cancelling people. Jimmy Carr Destroys Art sees the comedian destroy works of art by famous but problematic artists and every week he platforms discussions about the validity of art made by people like Hitler. Becoming an arbiter of conversations around cancel culture rather than being cancelled is surely the ultimate flex for someone supposedly cancelled, the highest sign that cancel culture picks and chooses who it burns and who it tosses back onto the entertainment hamster wheel.
Who was cancelled? Jeremy Clarkson
What happened? The last of 2022’s cancellings was Jeremy Clarkson. In his Sun column he wrote that he hoped Meghan Markle would be paraded around the streets naked and that he “hates” her. He has since apologised, although equality organisations have criticised his apology as skimming around the edges of a comment that was more damaging than he’s acknowledged.
What happens next? It’s too early to tell, but Clarkson is hugely popular with TV viewers, and with a second series of Clarkson’s Farm due out early next year, there’s too much money on the line for him to fall victim to cancel culture. That series earned him a whole new legion of fans, expressing the softer side of the car man’s personality, so producers will likely be keen for him to keep schtum until that drops. And a new series of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire is on the way too, with Clarkson in the driving seat. Given his heritage of saying bad things and getting away with it, he’ll probably continue in that same vein.
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