by aidan callahan, back page editor

In the past few weeks, the entertainment world has been rocked by several cancellations. But, you don’t need to worry about your favorite TV show; all of these cancellations have been targeted at prominent entertainers.

Cancel culture rose to prominence around 2017. It involves “canceling” a public figure by boycotting any support for them to deny them a public platform or career. 

This is usually done in response to behavior perceived as offensive or toxic. It can be an effective tool to deplatform someone, but it can also backfire and bring more attention to the person. 

Here are the most notable cases of cancellations you may have missed in the past few weeks:

Chris Harrison

The long-time host of reality series The Bachelor and its spin-offs announced Saturday that he would be stepping down from the role “for a period of time.”

This comes in the wake of backlash he received after making controversial comments regarding a current contestant’s old photos.  

The contestant is Rachael Kirkconnell, a frontrunner of the current season who was recently called out for being pictured at a 2018 antebellum, plantation-themed fraternity formal. 

During an interview with Extra magazine correspondent and the franchise’s first female Black lead Rachel Lindsay, Harrison defended Kirkconnell. He stated the pictures were taken a long time ago and spoke out against cancel culture. 

This sparked backlash online and from those associated with the show. The franchise had already faced scrutiny for its lack of diversity. 

It didn’t feature a Black lead until Lindsay in 2017, who is now trying to distance herself from the show. 

“I’m exhausted. I have truly had enough,” she said on the latest episode of her podcast following her interview with Harrison. “How much more do I want to be affiliated with this?”

Morgan Wallen

The music industry attempted to cancel Morgan Wallen after a video surfaced of the country music star using a racial slur. Despite this, his album Dangerous is in its fourth week at the top of the charts, and his sales have even seen an increase.

The video was captured by a neighbor as Wallen returned home from a night out. He can be heard shouting a number of obscenities, including the racial slurs. 

TMZ posted the video and he was swiftly deplatformed. Radio stations stopped playing his music, while Apple and Spotify removed his songs from their playlists. His record label, Big Loud, also announced they would be suspending his contract indefinitely. 

This led to fans labeling him as an unfair victim of cancel culture. 

Even after Wallen apologized and said he would take full responsibility for his actions, his sister took to Instagram to call cancel culture “the worst thing that has come out of our digital world.”

Gina Carano

Following controversial social media posts, LucasFilms has cut all ties with The Mandalorian actress.

Over the past year, Carano’s social media presence has sparked backlash from fans. The most recent post that stirred up controversy compared the treatment of modern Republicans to the treatment of Jews during the Holocaust. 

This post inspired the hashtag #FireGinaCarano to begin trending on Twitter. 

LucasFilms chose to cut ties with the actress. A spokesperson for the company said, “Her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable.” 

Less than 24 hours after this statement was published, Carano announced she would be developing, producing and starring in a film for the conservative website The Daily Wire. Carano told Deadline the project was a “dream come true.” “I have only just begun using my voice which is now freer than ever before, and I hope it inspires others to do the same,” she continued. “They can’t cancel us if we don’t let them.”