c/cancel-culture-check

Shoutout to that $500 'growth course' that just taught me how to repost memes

So last month I got roped into this online marketing course from some guy who claimed he got a YouTuber unfired from a brand deal scandal. Paid $500 for it. Turns out the whole thing was just 'post relatable content and wait.' Like, I could have learned that from my cousin's cat page for free. The worst part is he used canceled celebs as case studies but didn't even have the real tea on them. I'm out here broke and slightly wiser. Has anyone else fallen for a course that was just recycled Twitter threads?

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thomasshah•1d ago

Hot take: The cancelation of that food blogger who 'forgot' to credit recipes wasn't totally unfair

Last week, I baked a cake from a viral TikTok video and when I posted the results, someone called me out for not crediting the original creator. Turns out the recipe was lifted from a cookbook, and I had no idea. How are regular folks supposed to tell the difference between inspiration and theft online?

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felix_lane99•3d ago

I still think about that time a small creator got completely torn apart for a bad joke

This was maybe 2 years ago, a YouTuber with like 30k subs made a dumb joke about mental health during a livestream. It wasn't malicious, just poorly timed and kind of cringey. Within a week, she had a full on hate mob in her comments, lost a sponsorship deal worth around $500, and posted a tearful apology video. I was in the comments defending her at first, but then I started second guessing myself. Has anyone else ever stuck up for someone getting canceled and then wondered if you were just making it worse?

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angela_grant•6d ago

That influencer apology template everyone uses is making things worse, not better

I was scrolling through Twitter last week and saw this beauty influencer I used to follow get called out for some old racist tweets she posted when she was 19. She put out this statement that was almost word for word the same apology flowchart I've seen a dozen times this year. 'I take full responsibility, I'm committed to learning and growing, I will be taking time offline to educate myself.' It's like they all copy from the same script their PR team sends out. I actually did some digging and found there's literally a template shared in some PR circles that costs like $50 and they just swap out the names. How is that supposed to fix anything when it's just copy paste sadness? Has anyone else noticed how fake these canned apologies feel compared to when someone actually writes something specific and real?

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alicecooper•6d ago

What Happened When I Called Out a Food Blogger for Fake Recipes

I got into it with a popular baking influencer last month after she posted a cake that looked perfect but the recipe seemed wrong. I commented politely asking if she actually baked it herself or just staged it for the photo. She replied with a long rant calling me a hater and her fans piled on calling me jealous. But then three other bakers replied saying they tried her recipe and it flopped completely. So was she really canceled or just exposed for being dishonest? I think there's a difference between holding someone accountable and just jumping on a bandwagon. Where do you all draw that line?

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thomasshah•7d ago

Just hit 50 canceled influencers this year and it feels weird

I keep a little list on my phone of everyone who got canceled this year and I just realized I'm at 50. It started as a joke but now I actually look back and see how many people came back a month later like nothing happened. Does anyone else feel like cancel culture has lost its teeth compared to even two years ago?

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derek656•11d ago

Realized I was the problem after a creator I trashed got a fair point

I spent three days piling on that food blogger who got canceled for saying 'microwave oats are fine.' Called her lazy, said she was ruining cooking. Then I caught myself microwaving my own oatmeal last Tuesday at 7am because I had 5 minutes before work. It hit me that I was just mad she wasn't pretending to be a gourmet chef for clout. Has anyone else here had that moment where you realize you got fooled by the outrage?

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max_ross•12d ago

Got roasted for saying 'thoughts and prayers' in a post about the wildfires

I shared a simple message about the LA fires last month and people tore me apart for not mentioning climate change or donations. One comment said 'your thoughts are worth less than a link to a GoFundMe.' Now I always add concrete actions or resources when I post about disasters. Any tips for balancing sincerity with actually being helpful online?

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simonh74•12d ago

Remember when getting canceled meant losing your job at the local diner?

I was sitting at my kitchen table in Austin scrolling through Twitter last Friday when I saw a 10-year-old tweet from a comedian I used to follow. The tweet was dumb but harmless, yet within 2 hours people were calling for his head and his tour dates got pulled. Has anyone else noticed how the stakes feel way higher now than they did back in 2012?

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irismartinez•12d ago

The late-night chef who got canceled for that old tweet about tipping

I had to pick between defending a guy who worked 16 hour shifts at a diner outside Austin or admitting that what he said 8 years ago was bad. I went with the second option after reading the full thread. It was about stiffing servers on slow nights, and I just couldn't back that, even if his food was good. Has anyone else had to separate a person's past words from their current work?

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king.wyatt•13d ago

Just overheard a podcast host defend that canceled baker from Portland

I was at a coffee shop in Austin last Tuesday and caught someone listening to a podcast where the host was defending that baker from Portland who got called out for making a cake with a design some people thought was offensive. The host said the baker got death threats for something that was honestly just a bad joke, not hate speech. That got me thinking about how we draw that line between ignorance and malice. The baker lost their whole shop after the story went viral on Twitter in 2023, but the podcast host pointed out the person who started the callout later admitted they exaggerated what the design showed. Does anyone else feel like the punishment here was way out of proportion to what actually happened?

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wilson.kelly•13d ago

The cookbook author who got canceled for cultural appropriation taught me how to make proper pho

I was at a cooking class in Portland 3 years ago and the instructor was a white woman who had just published a Vietnamese cookbook. She showed us how to char ginger and onions for the broth, which most recipes skip. I asked her about the controversy and she said 'I'm just sharing techniques I learned from my neighbors.' I still use her method every time I make pho. Has anyone else found useful stuff from a canceled creator that you can't get elsewhere?

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holly_walker76•15d ago

Tossed $120 at that 'authentic' apology tour merch and got a cheap t-shirt with a typo

Bought a limited edition 'I messed up' hoodie from that influencer who did the big livestream apology last month. Figured it was a funny way to support someone trying to make things right. But the fabric is see-through and the screen print says 'sorrey' with two r's. Emailed support twice, no reply. Anyone else get burned on this cash grab?

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kelly385•16d ago

That pearl jam apology last month was ridiculous

Everyone is piling on that influencer who made the dumb comment about veterans, but I think the reaction went way too far. She messed up, said something ignorant about military service in a livestream on March 12th, and then posted a 4 minute apology video the next day. Look, I know a few vets from my gym who said they didn't even care about the remark, they were more annoyed that people dug up tweets from 2019 to pile on. It feels like mob justice these days where one mistake gets you dragged for everything you ever said. Her apology seemed genuine to me, she didn't deflect or blame anyone else. Has anyone else noticed that the people calling hardest for cancellations usually have their own past stuff they'd rather not have aired?

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the_nina•16d ago

That one tweet from a food blogger last week got her canceled for saying store-bought pesto is better than homemade

I used to jump on the bandwagon and hate on anyone who questioned homemade recipes but after making my own pesto for 6 months straight and realizing it costs $12 a jar in ingredients I totally get why she said it, has anyone else had a shift like that over a dumb food opinion?

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troy832•17d ago

That time I tried to get a canceled streamer unbanned but waited 6 weeks for an answer

Last month I saw this smaller streamer get canceled hard over a joke he made in 2018 that got clipped and blown way out of proportion. Everyone on Twitter was piling on and his channel got banned from Twitch within a day. I thought the whole thing was unfair so I wrote a detailed appeal explaining the context and that he'd apologized years ago. Figured I'd hear back in a week or two at most. Six weeks later I finally got a generic copy-paste response saying the decision was final. No actual review of the evidence or anything. It really made me wonder if these platforms even bother looking at individual cases or if it's just an automated system that flags and drops you. Has anyone else tried fighting a ban like this and actually gotten a real human to look at it?

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daniel_walker•18d ago

That influencer apology video felt fake until I realized something

Last week I watched this travel blogger from Denver named Jenna post a 9 minute apology for photoshopping herself into a shot of Machu Picchu so it looked less crowded. She was crying and saying she wanted to 'inspire wanderlust' but I rolled my eyes at first. Then I checked her older posts and realized she'd been doing this for like 2 years, subtly editing out tourists. But here's the thing - she donated $500 to a preservation fund in Peru after getting called out. Does that actually fix the damage or is it just a PR move? I'm torn because I hate fake content but at least she did something tangible. Has anyone else seen an influencer do something half decent after a cancelation or is it always just damage control?

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patriciareed•18d ago

That wellness influencer in Sedona rubbed me the wrong way

I took a trip to Sedona last month and visited a popular crystal shop that a big Instagram wellness influencer always promotes. The whole place felt like a factory, not a peaceful spot. They were pushing $80 smudge sticks and telling people they had 'bad energy' if they didn't buy one. I overheard the staff talking about how they crank up prices for tourists who recognize the influencer's name. It made me wonder if she actually believes in the stuff she sells or if it's just a cash grab. Has anyone else visited a place tied to a canceled or controversial influencer and felt the same?

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bettyfox•18d ago

The moment I realized I was canceling people without doing my own research first...

I was all set to pile on a beauty influencer who supposedly faked a charity donation last month. Then my friend from college sent me a screenshot of the actual bank statement from the charity's website. I had just been reading headlines and reacting without clicking through to the source documents... now I double check everything before I even comment. Has anyone else caught themselves jumping to conclusions based on a misleading clip or post?

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jordanc32•19d ago

Hot take: I used to think cancel culture went too far but a recent incident changed my mind

I was always on the side of letting people slide for old tweets until I saw that influencer from Austin get exposed for faking a hate crime last month for clout. The evidence was so clear and she doubled down instead of apologizing, which made me realize some cancellations actually protect real victims from being used. Do you think the line is clearer when there's like actual proof of harm vs just being offensive?

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alexc93•20d ago

Cancel culture used to be just yelling at each other in a bar bathroom in 2007

I miss when getting 'canceled' meant your friend group was mad at you for a week, not a global pile-on with news articles. I spent $60 on a domain name in 2019 to defend myself from a weird rumor and it did absolutely nothing.

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bettyfox•21d ago

That old Olivia Rodrigo tweet from 2021 still got her dropped from a radio station last week

I saw a rundown on Twitter showing a local station in Austin canceled her whole weekend set over one sarcastic line she wrote 3 years ago. Does that feel fair to you or are we just looking for excuses now?

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robinj29•23d ago

That 2019 tweet from the food blogger came back to haunt her this week

Some influencer named Claire from Portland had a 6 year old tweet surface where she made fun of a restaurant owner's weight. Lost 40k followers in 2 days. Do you think digging up stuff that old is fair game?

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derek656•25d ago

That time I was sure a cancel was fake but it turned out real

I was so skeptical when people were calling out that food blogger for faking her recipes. Thought it was just haters making a big deal over nothing. Then I watched a 20 minute breakdown video that showed side by side comparisons of her 'homemade' dishes next to box mix photos. The frosting was exactly identical down to the swirl pattern. Has anyone else had a moment where you rolled your eyes at a cancellation but then saw proof that changed your mind?

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the_avery•29d ago

Took me 3 hours to explain why that influencer's apology was worse than the original tweet

My buddy kept saying she should be forgiven because she said sorry, but I had to break down how the apology just blamed everyone else. Anyone else have to walk someone through why a half apology makes things worse?

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