Speaker 1: A timely discussion to have given that a mob sent by don jr and candace owens is
actively trying to cancel me right now is to ask whether the so-called victims of cancel culture
have actually been canceled. The term cancel culture is used to describe this social phenomenon
where a person or a group is ostracized or they're boycotted because of their opinions or their
actions. When someone considers it offensive or controversial or whatever the case may be.
And the question that I think is interesting to consider is even in cases where there is
a cancellation alleged to have taken place, was anyone actually canceled? Because in many cases,
those who complain about being canceled are facing consequences that make sense for the behavior or
statements that are in question. Like, for example, former President Donald Trump was
banned from several social media platforms when he repeatedly spread false information about the
2020 election. He incited violence which led to the storming of the Capitol and on and on.
It wasn't cancel culture, it was. Twitter has certain terms and conditions and thus the.
Blocking or banning of Trump from Twitter was a response to Trump's irresponsible actions.
But Trump is still super wealthy. He finished out his term as president. He continues to have
the bully pulpit. He's running again. He is making money. Was he really canceled because the terms of
service on Twitter were applied to him? I would argue not really. Comedian Louis C.K. faced a
bunch of backlash and he did lose a few gigs after he admitted to what I think we're now calling
sexual misconduct covers Louis C.K. his behavior. Was that a cancellation or was it he admitted to
something that some found reprehensible. It temporarily had an effect, but he's produced
multiple quite successful comedy specials since then. Is that really a cancellation?
Or is it something else? Comedian Kevin Hart faced some backlash. He lost his role as hosting the
Oscars when some homophobic tweets resurfaced, but he kept working. He's hosted other events,
including, I think, the MTV Video Music Awards, the Academy Awards pre-show. Is that really a
cancel cancellation or. There were briefly some consequences to something that he did or said.
Dave Chappelle. Comedian Dave Chappelle faced significant criticism for some material about
trans people in his Netflix special. His career continues to thrive. He's released
multiple specials since I think he signed a pretty lucrative deal with Netflix for multiple more
things. He still gets on Rogan regularly and he is gets the hero's welcome whenever Rogan brings him
up. Was he canceled or was it? There was a period during which there were consequences to things,
he said. J.K. Rowling, the Harry Potter author, she has faced backlash and accusations of
transphobia because she made some statements about trans people on social media. She keeps releasing
successful books and adaptations, the fantastic Beasts film series and on and on. You could say,
well, she's big enough to be uncanny syllable. But then isn't that sort of the point where,
like. So she wasn't actually canceled? Roseanne Barr also comes to mind and then will move on
to academia. Roseanne Barr. Face consequences. When she made some remarks on Twitter and she
later ended up back on TV with a new show after some version of Roseanne was canceled. And now
she's doing the circuit and she's given the hero's welcome everywhere. So were they really canceled,
if that's how it ends up. Now, we can also talk about academia. You know, in academia, it's been
a little different. Steven Pinker, cognitive psychologist, he faced backlash for some of
the things he said about race and gender. And he's continued to teach. He's continued to have popular
books. Was that really a cancellation? He was criticized widely. Jordan Peterson Right. I mean,
look, he's doing far better now than he was when he was teaching psychology at the University of
Toronto, I believe it was. There were protests and there were all sorts of criticisms and complaints.
And he was, you know, brought to testify before Canadian parliament and people saying they're
canceling Jordan Peterson. He's as successful as ever. So when when I think of it, Milo
Yiannopoulos was more or less canceled in what we might call a meaningful way. He was dropped
by his publisher speaking. Events were published after he made some comments that some people said
were condoning pedophilia. Others said it's not really pedophilia, it's really hemophilia. But
you could make the argument that was a response to his offensive remarks. Is it a cancellation?
Mel Gibson, I mean, quite frankly, deserved it. But he did get back to working even after a hiatus
after his incident involving police officer. Are you Jewish and the entire drunk driving stop? So
the idea that cancel culture is a threat to free speech and attempt to silence dissenting voices,
is it criticism? Is it consequence? What is it? I think that that's perfectly fair to explore.
Again, right now, the right wing mob is trying to cancel me by calling my advertisers and saying,
don't advertise with David because he blamed the victims of a shooting for the shooting,
which of course, I didn't do. I blamed our politicians who send only thoughts and prayers.
It's a tactic that is completely fine to say, hey, I don't like what was said, give a consequence. In
my particular case, it's being done in bad faith. I think with Al Franken it went too far. But the
vast majority of these cancellations don't really seem to even be cancellations. Whether they're
warranted or not. We can debate, but are they even really cancellations? Let me know what you think.