The fact white celebrities experience “cancel culture” differently than Black celebrities is not lost on us.
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Consider how Kevin Hart got dragged for resurfaced homophobic jokes. Even after apologizing, he was booted from hosting the 2019 Oscars and continuously forced to explain himself over and over. Meanwhile, actor/comic James Gunn was targeted for resurfaced rape jokes and while he was fired from Disney, the noise around his F-up died down swiftly and he managed to have his contract renewed, per HuffPost.
From racist jokes, sexual assault allegations to committing actual felonies, celebrities have repeatedly been humbled to who they are as a regular degular person. If the internet could help it, they’d never hold a job another day in their life. However, white high-profile celebs and such definitely have a way of bouncing back.
… and we know exactly why.
Here’s 16 examples of white celebs who made the #cancelled list.
Michael Richards
The “Seinfeld” actor claimed he “went into character” when a Black audience member heckled him at a Laugh Factory show back in 2006. Richards shouted racial slurs at the man. Richards told The View he “canceled himself” following the incident and apologized since though his acting career was never the same. However, now he has a book to the sell.
Ezra Miller
Miller (they/them) claimed to be suffering “complex mental health issues” following a string of arrests for disorderly conduct and assault stemming back to 2020. Most notably, they were accused of assaulting several women, grooming a 12-year-old girl and sending a cryptic message to the Ku Klux Klan telling them to “keep doing what they’re doing” or kill themselves, according to PEOPLE.
Danny Masterson
The “That 70’s Show” actor was convicted in the rape of two women in 2003. No one wanted this man to see the light of day – even his costars received flack for writing statements of support, per USA TODAY. He was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison. His wife filed for divorce and full custody of their daughter the same month the actor was sentenced.
Alec Baldwin
The critically acclaimed actor’s run toward being a legend came to a screeching halt after prosecutors claimed he fatally shot a cinematographer on the set of the film “Rust,” per NPR. The film’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and negligent use of a firearm. However, the world wanted Baldwin to pay for his alleged actions. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter and heads to trial in July.
Jonah Hill
The actor’s ex-girlfriend, Sarah Brady, led the cancel campaign against him when she shared screenshots of her message threads she claimed came from Hill. She then went on to allege the actor was emotionally abusive in their relationship and warned the viewers to make an exit plan if their partner ever talks to them as Hill allegedly did to her – controlling what she posted on social media, per Newsweek. Some people honored the actor for “setting boundaries” while others took the messages as him being a control freak.
Russell Brand
Brand was put in the hot seat following rape, sexual assault and emotional abuse allegations by four women who came forward last year about incidents that occurred between 2006 and 2013, per the Sunday Times. After denying the claims, Brand appeared to attempt cleaning up his new reputation by getting baptized. He hasn’t been formally charged yet in connection to the allegations.
Elon Musk
Let’s be real, no one really liked him when he stepped into the regular daily news feed. However, he lost nearly everyone’s respect by the time he bought Twitter (or X, whatever). As soon as he was in power, he promised to cut 80 percent of the company’s staff, per CNN. He changed the name of the site altogether and he censored accounts he didn’t agree with to be petty but then reinstated accounts previously banned for hate speech (despite claiming to be a Freedom of Speech advocate).
Jared Leto
Leto has always been quite the character (no pun intended toward his acting career). However, since 2005, he’s been slammed with rape and sexual assault allegations involving women his age and minors. For that reason, he was banned from ever coming back as Joker in the DC universe. He was also accused of running a cult of super fans with his band, Thirty Seconds to Mars in 2019 after inviting their fans to a three-day musical festival, isolated on the island of Croatia, per L’Officiel USA.
Brad Pitt
The actor was accused of being physically abusive to ex-wife Angelina Jolie and their son. In one of Jolie’s many lawsuits, she claimed Pitt’s abusive behavior was linked to a drinking problem, per Vulture. Pretty much all of kids have dropped “Pitt” from their last name and assumed the maiden name of their mother, per Buzzfeed. Pitt and Jolie remained in legal battles over property, child custody and company ownership. Regardless of allegations. Pitt is still a beloved star.
Kevin Spacey
In 2017, Spacey was blasted for sexual assault allegations made from Actor Anthony Rapp who claimed Spacey tried to make inappropriate advances on him when he was just 14 , per TODAY. Following that blowup, more men spoke out against him and he got dropped from several shows and ended up being pulled into criminal cases on more allegations in the U.K.
J.K. Rowling
The “Harry Potter” author came under serious fire the summer of 2020 when she reposted an opinion piece with a title referencing “people who menstruate,” per GLAMOUR. In response, she tweeted “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?” Yeah, that didn’t go over too well – especially, because she went deeper into her beliefs about the erasure of the “lived reality of women.” The whole film cast of “Harry Potter” pretty much cancelled her.
Iggy Azalea
The rapper’s career has historically led us into a permanent head-tilt. However, the controversies around her apparent attempt to market herself based off the identity of a Black woman, that bizarre “freestyle” which was really a wack attempt at Kendrick Lamar’s “Look Out for Detox,” and a slew of exposed racist tweets. Not to mention, she’s become the target for shady disses from other artists including but not exclusive to Eminem and Azealia Banks, per Junkee.
Mark Wahlberg
Ironically, he was forced to handoff the SAG Award to the predominantly Asian cast of “Everything Everywhere All At Once” after having been canceled for the assault on two Vietnamese men in the late 80s. That’s not all. According to NBC News, he also chased down some Black kids, yelling racial slurs at them when he was a teen. He’s since owned up to his mess but the internet will never forget.
Piers Morgan
His biggest L was talking bad about Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, on his early morning show which got him an “invitation” to leave the channel altogether, per Variety. However, his other commentary such as defending J.K. Rowling’s transphobic Twitter rant and launching a campaign to be part of former president Donald Trump’s White House team put him on the cancelled list.
Johnny Depp
The actor was tossed into the sea of cancellation following the allegations of him being a “wife-beater” by a U.K. magazine and the bombshell legal case his ex-wife Amber Heard launched against him where she alleged domestic abuse. However, he won his defamation suit against Heard by trial in 2023. Her performance on the witness stand casted doubt on her allegations.
Julianne Hough
The “Dancing With the Stars” dancer got dragged in 2021 upon the resurfacing of her 2013 Halloween costume when she dressed in blackface to embody Crazy Eyes from “Orange is the New Black.” On top of that, the internet criticized her role on the show The Activist, claiming it was performative and tone-deaf. She apologized for both situations in an Instagram post.
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