The Cancelling of Carson King

In the age of social media, we turn to cancel culture as it is currently one of the most effective ways to hold people accountable. Cancel culture is about recognizing who you are supporting and holding people accountable for their words and actions. At times, cancel culture lacks in actually holding people accountable as it only calls them out, then we all forget about them once they’re done trending. Which is what happened with Carson King.

As Carson King was on the rise, he became an influencer. As a result of this, it is acceptable that he was called out for his actions. You should be able to know what type of person you are supporting, especially if you are supporting them monetarily. There is no doubt that what Carson King said in the past is wrong and racist. He should be held accountable for saying those things, just because he donated money to charity does not mean that we should all ignore the fact that he posted racist remarks on social media. Even though he did some good things and the posts were from years ago, they are still his words and actions. Carson king needs to take accountability for his past and suffer the consequences.

The issue with cancel culture is that once it’s done trending, everyone forgets. Those who are cancelled should be educated and held accountable for longer. Cancel culture should be less about abandoning people after being publicly shamed and more about helping people to change. If someone who was cancelled does educate themselves and actually change, then it is acceptable to continue to support them because this is what cancel culture should really be about.

Leake, G., Armijo, A., & Stroud, S. R. (2019, December 04). Beer cans and cancel culture. Media Ethics Initiative. https://mediaethicsinitiative.org/2019/12/04/beer-cans-and-cancel-culture/