Thinking Weekly

From Alix Earle to Brooke Schofield, everyone is getting “cancelled”, but is it achieving anything meaningful?

At some point in life, everyone has likely done something they regret. But where is the line that makes past mistakes unforgivable? Who gets to decide where that line is drawn? And how much should someone’s behavior from decades ago impact their life today, especially if they’ve grown and changed since then?

Cancel culture is an extremely touchy subject, with everyone holding different opinions on it. Nowadays, we see people getting canceled left and right, with someone’s past being dredged up almost every week. Being in the spotlight makes it almost inevitable that people will dig up your past, but what drives this urge? If someone is actively a good person with strong morals, should their past really define their character today? On the other hand, I believe past actions can reveal who a person truly is when they’re not in the public eye. Take Brooke Schofield, for example—before her racist tweets resurfaced, she was known for being a genuinely good person, with even better morals than her controversial co-star, Tana Mongeau. After those tweets came to light, my perception of her definitely changed, and i bet a lot of you can say the same.

To me, Brooke Schofield’s tweets are a bit different from the average scandal. She wasn’t just saying awful things; her words revealed a deeply rooted racism. These aren’t attitudes that can be unlearned overnight. Yes, it’s been years since those tweets were posted, and she could have changed, but what if she hasn’t? How can we allow someone to influence millions if they can’t simply be a good person?

One major flaw in cancel culture is that it often focuses less on encouraging the person to address and grow from their past mistakes and more on inflating individual egos. Crowds of people publicly call for the cancellation of a celebrity to prove they know it’s wrong and that they occupy the moral high ground. Leaving hate comments on someone’s post doesn’t accomplish anything productive. Putting pressure on them to learn, grow, and share that process with their audience would be far more meaningful than leaving death threats in a TikTok comment section.

Additionally, cancel culture often adopts an “all or nothing” mindset. For some, no apology, reparation, or growth is ever enough. While everyone has the right to feel how they want about someone’s past comments—especially marginalized groups who are often the targets of these scandals—should we leave room for canceled celebrities to go through personal growth and education? Or do they deserve to lose their entire platform?

Another issue is that many people accept apologies that aren’t even directed at them. For example, the comment section of Alix Earle’s recent apology video was filled with white people forgiving her for using the N-word. If the original comments weren’t directed at a group you belong to, the apology isn’t yours to accept. Period. Apologies should be acknowledged and accepted by those who were harmed, not by outsiders looking to absolve someone on behalf of others.

Overall, people in the spotlight should be good people. There shouldn’t be a need to dig into someone’s past because those we look up to should naturally reflect our morals and values. The public figures we admire should set a positive example, both in their current behavior and in how they’ve addressed any past mistakes. In an ideal world, influencers would already have the ethics we expect from them, cancelling the need for cancel culture altogether.