Being canceled is a fear plenty of entertainers have experienced at some point in their careers. Many celebrities, especially those in the comedy community, have pushed back on the idea in recent years. Chris Rock is adding his name to the list, as the legendary comic explained his issues with cancel culture in an interview with The Breakfast Club earlier this week.
Rock believes comics have begun to play it safe with their routines to avoid the thought of cancel culture entering their careers, which he feels has damaged the current state of the art form overall.
“You don’t really have to cancel us, ‘cos we get the message — they’re not laughing,” he said of listening to the audience. “When we do something and people aren’t laughing, we get it. And when everyone gets safe and nobody tries anything, things get boring.”
The New York native didn’t hold back when giving his assessment of the current comedy landscape.
“I see a lot of unfunny comedians, I see unfunny TV shows, I see unfunny awards shows, I see unfunny movies because everybody’s scared to make a move,” he said. “And that’s not a place to be, now you got a place where people are scared to talk.”
Donald Glover Believes Cancel Culture Has Led To 'Boring' Film Art
Donald Glover echoed a similar sentiment with a since-deleted Twitter rant going off about the boring art being made in Hollywood with creatives afraid to take certain types of risks.
“We’re getting boring stuff and not even experimental mistakes(?) because people are afraid of getting cancelled,” Glover wrote. “So they feel like they can only experiment w/ aesthetic. (also because some of em know theyre not that good).”
Watch Chris Rock’s interview below, with talk of cancel culture just shy of the 12-minute mark.
I would say it all depends on the audience. Lets be real, if you went on tour doing shows for groups of Trump supporters, you could say whatever you want and being “insensitive” will probably boost your career. You cant cancel live audiences because those people chose to support you in person regardless of what the social media world or TV stations think. In that sense Id say live comedy performers have a distinct advantage over rappers. Live comedians arent selling music or pre-recorded movies that can be “cancelled”.
You might be right there, but I wonder how much money I made off a Netflix special, as opposed to the road. I’ll take offensive humour over Jim Gaffigan any day.
Meant to say they made off of Netflix, not I
He’s not wrong.
Chris is right. Well said.
This irony is black people started this cancel cultute stuff w all their years of whining and complaining abouy any little thing possible..now white woman, asians and gays learned how to be victims and play thru yall.
true. cancel culture, race card, culture appropriation, all stupid! all to make someone feel better than others. entitled people always making something out of nothing.
People really, really need to stop talking about cancel culture.
You know who got cancelled? The Dixie Chicks when they talked against the Iraq Invasion.
Who else got cancelled? Tommie Smith and John Carlos after they put up black fists during the 1968 Olympics.
The only difference is now the power dynamics have shifted. Please STFU about cancel culture.
Please do yeah.
Cancel culture as well as these takes on it are nothing new. I’m happy people are speaking out against it, however the audiences that most of these people reach are the ones who already believe cancel culture is wack so I dunno how much will change.
Black people are immune to cancel culture. Unless you support whites so in that case you have white privilege and therefore we must cancel you.
Continually read back over your comment until you can grasp the concept that what you posted is a major part of us not moving forward from the current stature. YOU. The same way we brothers hold onto cancel culture is instilling the same burning desire to hate. Move on.