Last weekend, comedian Shane Gillis was fired from the show without ever appearing on “Saturday Night Live” after it was revealed that he had made slurs during a previous podcast appearance on the show. Five years have passed since then. In his opening monologue, Gillis indicated that he has evolved since then, just a little bit. Modest about his parents, he fondly recalls spending time with his mother as a child, saying softly, “All little boys are just their mom’s gay best friend.”
For the past two weeks, Ye (formerly Kanye West) has been at the top of the Billboard album chart with Vultures 1, his collaborative album with singer Ty Dolla $ign. In late 2022, Ye began airing his anti-Semitic vitriol in public, which effectively destroyed his career for a time and led to the end of partnerships with Adidas and Gap. For a while he seemed to be personable and grata. But he’s also getting closer to his old self, with his single “Carnival” reaching No. 3 on the Hot 100 and a series of arena listening sessions that have characterized his recent album rollout. Year.
Cancellation has always been a flawed concept, more of a way to talk about an artist with a controversial and unpleasant personal history than an actual fact of the market. Except in the most extreme cases, moral failure does not automatically disqualify a work of art.
What has changed in the years since the #MeToo movement began is the assumption that a strong enough discursive backlash can actually lead to actual ostracism. That’s proven true in the wake of #MeToo, when powerful figures like Charlie Rose, Bryan Singer, and Matt Lauer were effectively banished from public life after being accused of sexual misconduct. (And it’s worth noting that most of those facing deportation or the threat of deportation are men.) Roseanne Barr has made racist and anti-Semitic public statements. She is probably the most notable woman to have faced that fate.)
But the feeling of being able to eliminate the bad guys at their source satisfied liberal fantasies. What happened instead was the emergence of an interdisciplinary group of artists (call them Disgraced) who found a way to succeed despite some public backlash. Their success suggests several possibilities for cultural consumption. The audience that doesn’t care about an artist’s indiscretions is likely much larger than the audience that does. Even those who publicly agitate about these issues may be privately relenting. Alternatively, it is possible that some viewers may be immune to attacks or have an appetite for them.
This disgraced group also includes country star Morgan Wallen, who is still ostracized by many for using racial slurs in 2021, but still for most of the past three years. has spent its past two releases at or near the top of the Billboard album chart. “Dangerous: The Double Album” and “One Thing at a Time.” It could also include acclaimed fashion designer John Galliano, who has virtually fully rehabilitated himself publicly after the 2011 anti-Semitic riots and subsequent period in exile. His Spring 2024 Couture collection for his Maison Margiela was one of his most acclaimed runway shows in recent years.
These are cases in which artists are rescued from moral exile and brought back into the spotlight, primarily by their followers. Wallen’s music remains at the forefront of mainstream country, and he’s the biggest draw at his live shows. Country fans, by sheer force of admiration, perhaps partly in protest, placed him at the heart of the genre. Galliano was and remains one of fashion’s masters of fantasy. Those who aspired to his blend of craft, theater, and subversion largely ignored his troubled past, giving him the opportunity to continue his career in peace. He has been Margiela’s creative director for about 10 years.
Rehabilitation can continue even after death. Michael Jackson, who died in 2009, was plagued by allegations of sexual misconduct towards the end of his life and was criminally charged with child sexual abuse. But now that he’s gone, he’s still a huge success. His jukebox musical, “MJ the Musical,” grossed more than $176 million on Broadway in just over two years, and half of his catalog of music and recordings was recently sold as part of a deal. I did. Those assets (which also include works by other artists) are reported to be worth $1.2 billion, suggesting that the salacious accusations against him have had little material impact on the financial strength of his estate. ing.
Some prominent celebrities are laundering unsavory business practices behind their crowd-pleasing gimmicks. Elon Musk, for example, shot down news about the deterioration of his long-anticipated Tesla Cybertruck (essentially a bulletproof emoji on wheels) on Twitter (now X). Or Dave Portnoy, whose pizza review videos and summer pizza festivals are popular with fans as a distraction from the sometimes vulgar content of his outlet Barstool Sports and a slew of sexual misconduct allegations. There is. Musk and Portnoy know that it’s possible to exist in the world in more than one way at a time, and that the goofiest, tastiest versions often get the most attention. This is more about ignoring the library than owning it.
While artists who face intense public scrutiny for their actions remain in closed markets (Louis C.K. sells comedy features on his website, Woody Allen sells his recent films (essentially denied large-scale domestic release), these artists have increasingly become outliers. What sets these shamed artists apart is that they exist in the mainstream by choice and by an algorithm. teeth Mainstream.
In walled, algorithm-driven spaces like Spotify, TikTok, and Netflix, content is distributed and promoted without any additional context. Last year, Goodie Mob and Gnarls Barkley’s CeeLo Green’s 20-year-old song “I’ll Be Around” became the soundtrack for a particularly popular viral dance trend on TikTok. In 2012, a woman accused Green of rape, but he was ultimately charged with a lesser charge and pleaded no contest to giving her ecstasy. She then posted a series of defiant bromides on social media, including one in which she wrote, “Those who have really been raped, please remember!!!” (He later apologized for the tweet.)
In 2018, Spotify tried to respond by removing XXXTentacion and R. Kelly from its playlists, citing “hateful conduct.” But just a few weeks later, the streaming service relented, saying in a blog post that “we are not seeking to play judge and jury.” The week it was released, “Vultures 1” music was promoted on the streaming service’s major New Music Friday playlist.
Netflix has become something of an agnostic safe haven for comics who trade in offensive, provocative, or otherwise ways. This is a major platform for Dave Chappelle, and his latest Netflix special, “The Dreamer,” is largely based on his own criticism of antagonizing transgender people and their allies in previous Netflix specials. It is a meta-narrative about claims.
While popular, these shows have been received with hostility and feel like a throwback to an earlier, more chaotic era of popular culture. Perhaps indicative of the moral litmus test that no longer exists, even O.J. Simpson now has a platform. He is a regular guest on the popular online sports talk show “It Is What It Is,” hosted by rappers Cam’ron and Mace. . (“If he was guilty, we wouldn’t have him on the show,” Cam’ron told Complex.)
It is becoming more and more obvious that those who have been abandoned are not warmly accepted again. Take the example of R&B singer Chris Brown. Chris Brown’s career continues under the shadow of his assault on his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. Recently, he was invited to play in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, but it appears he hasn’t been invited since. , which led to him being heavily attacked on social media against one of his sponsors, Raffles Potato Chips.
Despite struggling to regain the attention and support of mainstream institutions, Brown remains a reliable hitmaker and collaborator in pop, R&B, and hip-hop. He was suspended for 15 years between his refusal and his reinstatement.
That in-between space is also where DaBaby lives, who experienced a rapid career decline in 2021 after making homophobic remarks on stage at a music festival. But his rehab tour recently made a stop at “What Now?” on the “With Trevor Noah” podcast, he talked about how those events upset him. Unlike Brown, who has largely refused to speak directly about his own misdeeds, DaBaby seems to realize that he cannot move forward or regain a path to widespread acceptance without accepting his past.
That’s the only way out of the double bubble of your own limitations and your most devoted, non-judgmental fans. It’s also an opportunity to determine what version of yourself can live outside of that bubble.
This is also true for Gillis, whose work primarily appears on Matt and Shane’s Secret Podcast, which he co-hosts and is the most popular podcast on the subscription platform Patreon. But unlike others who have been content to stay in a walled world and not feel the warmth and sting of public sunlight, Gillis is venturing into less welcoming spaces.
In September, Gillis released a comedy special on Netflix, and last month Gillis announced he would be releasing a second stand-up special and a scripted workplace comedy. And while “SNL” may never have easily reopened its doors to Gillis, the buzz and curiosity generated by giving him the stage outweighs any potential ethical backlash. It looked like he was making a calculated bet. It was like a statement of intent for the show, showing that it was willing to cause some discomfort, and that it perhaps saw a future in that kind of comedy in the world.
It was also a test for Gillis, who made adjustments in real time during his opening monologue as some of his punchlines didn’t go over well with the visiting crowd. “There’s no material that could be shown on TV,” he joked, but it was there nonetheless.