20/12/2019

#You’reCancelled! (podcast)

Open Twitter and you’ll probably see the word “cancelled” on your screen. It seems like the internet is cancelling somebody almost every single second. But what is cancel culture and why is it suddenly happening all the time? 

The Macmillan dictionary explains cancel culture as: ‘the practice of no longer supporting people, especially celebrities, or products that are regarded as unacceptable or problematic.’

The trend of cancelling people is especially famous on Twitter. Taylor Swift is cancelled for stroking The Weeknd’s hair, Ellen Degeneres is cancelled for hanging out with George W. Bush, and Shawn Mendes is cancelled for tweeting the N-word when he was 14 years old. 

https://twitter.com/wiggx2/status/1165212730262990849?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1165212730262990849&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonexaminer.com%2Fopinion%2Fwoke-mob-tries-to-cancel-shawn-mendes-for-old-racist-tweets

In this podcast, 21BisWired tries to figure out the motive behind cancel culture, its dangers and the impact it has on comedy today. Our audio fanatic Femke talks with internet specialist Clo Willaerts, MNM radio DJ Wanne Synnave, Geordie comedian Kai Humphries and Dutch comedian Jonathan Krispijn.

Wonder if you could get cancelled because of some hormonal thoughts you had when you were young? Check out this guide to find back your old tweets. We all grow and learn from our mistakes, and like internet specialist Clo Willaerts said: ‘Only a real idiot never changes his mind.’

Text, picture and podcast: Femke Lippens

Music: Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com)