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Originally Posted by GrantDawg
You mean people who faced consequences for their actions? Is that what "cancelled" means? You listed three people who did explicitly terrible things, and some how society was supposed to be fine with it?
The term "cancelled" is thrown around with other buzz words, but in essence it is "I acted terribly, but I shouldn't face any consequences." It is a lazy, "I'm the victim" term. And the vast majority of those who claim it are doing so on large platforms with a large megaphone. They are far from "cancelled."
Heck even on your list: Louis CK is still performing, doing specials etc. This after he was flashing and acting inappropriately toward women which he admitted he did.
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Cancelled means to be fired, have something taken away, being banned. There is no moral component. You can be cancelled and deserve it.
Louis CK was fired from a movie franchise, had production contracts cancelled, by his own count, lost tens of millions of dollars. Yes, he's found out a way to sell more directly to his audience. But he was literally cancelled by numerous entities. And deserved it. He's not in prison, he can still make content. But his career has unquestionably been altered by media companies not being willing to work with him. He was cancelled.
Kevin Spacey was fired from a TV show and erased from a movie. He was cancelled. And he deserved it.
I guess I can accept that the definition of the word changed in the last couple of years to mean being fired when one doesn't deserve it (which is bizarre, but whatever). But then, people always bring up that Louis CK still makes a living to deny that he's been cancelled. But go watch Secret Life of Pets. It's a different guy as the main character. Why do you think he hasn't been on SNL again? Or another mainstream movie? Being fired from a lot of stuff doesn't count as "cancelled" if you still make any other media content? Huh?
If we insist on having this new tortured definition of a formerly-simple word, we should have a different word that means when you're dropped from employers and projects and your career unquestionably altered and limited because of your actions. Because that definitely is a phenomenon. And we definitely used to call that being cancelled - which is what that word actually means, or used to mean before "cancelling doesn't exist" became a thing.
Edit: Where the new definition really goes off the rails for me is when someone says Louis CK wasn't cancelled because he still makes content. So the implication is that he WAS cancelled but no longer is. So I guess that applies to Bill Cosby too, who has done a few bar shows. And Kevin Spacey - I think he did a movie in France or something. I don't think Armie Hammer or the guy from That 70's Show have worked at all, so I guess they are still cancelled - even though they deserved it, which contradicts the other definition that its only cancelling if you don't deserve it. I vote for "cancelling" just meaning what it's always meant, and if someone thinks someone didn't deserve it, they were "unfairly cancelled".