In the wake of Kanye West being cancelled for his recent anti-Semitic comments, I am curious as to what warrants one to be cancelled and not be cancelled in this new age of the internet and “wokeness”? Cancel culture is defined as the popular practice of withdrawing support for (canceling) public figures and companies after they have done or said something considered objectionable or offensive. A number of public figures have been cancelled for different reasons both home and abroad. Take for instance, Chris Brown was cancelled for physically assaulting Rihanna and he has not recovered from that incident 13 years later; people just blackballed him and have never allowed him to live it down. Another eternal casualty is former TV presenter Kobi Kihara, who got cancelled for posting fake pictures from the internet and passing them off as hers; she is yet to recover 4 years on. Closer home, in 2021 Homeboyz radio fired Shaffie Weru, DJ Joe Mfalme and Neville Musya following netizens' backlash from the trio making jokes about a victim of gender-based violence during their morning show. It is curious to note that the trio are no longer cancelled with DJ Joe Mfalme headlining many shows around the country including the just concluded Oktobafest, Shaffie hosting a show at NRG Radio and Neville is on a show over at Trace East Africa.
Sautisol came close to being cancelled a few months ago when they dared to intimate that they would sue the Azimio coalition over copyright infringement for the use of their song. This saw them lose more than 2000 subscribers on their YouTube channel in a matter of hours. Twitter outrage also saw the Alchemist bar cancelled and it was briefly closed before the matter was resolved. Miss Mandi and Amina Rabar were also momentarily cancelled for mistreating their junior colleagues but they have since apologized for the folly of their younger days and all has been forgiven.
Cancel culture is not only for public figures. People nowadays get cancelled from friend groups, WhatsApp groups, and Telegram groups for various reasons. Make it make sense!
But guess who didn’t get cancelled for things that you would reckon should have had them cancelled: Michael Jackson for molesting those little children, Dr. Kidero for slapping Shebesh, Babu Owino for shooting DJ Evolve, Dr. Mukhisa Kituyi and Prof Lonyangapuo for their leaked nudes and Kabi wa Jesus for his incestuous paternity denial saga. These are just but a few of the contradictions that exist on this cancel culture brouhaha, who is the custodian of what warrants an electronic mob lynching or not. How come some people can get away with murder while others get cancelled for minor infractions? Where is the place for accountability and the fallible nature of humanity? Cancel culture is not only for public figures. People nowadays get cancelled from friend groups, WhatsApp groups, and Telegram groups for various reasons. Make it make sense!
Dave Chapelle was cancelled by Twitter for his perceived homophobic sentiments which prompted him to say that “Twitter is not a real place”. I am tempted to agree with him that the internet is actually not a real place and cancel culture, while appearing real, may as well just be a figment of imagination for social accountability with no lasting real-life consequences. We need to draw a line between a witch hunt and consequences of vices, and establish a standard gauging system for what constitutes a “cancellable” offense so as to bring some sanity to this destructive cancelling culture.
Stay safe on these streets, no one is above being cancelled.