How Has Cancel Culture Affected The Music Industry?
“Cancel Culture” has become a buzzword. The act of public shaming or boycotting certain celebrities or public figures after a controversy has become widespread in recent years, with help from incessant Tweeting and the Me Too movement. For many, it keeps celebrities in check and holds people accountable.
Other people have dismissed cancel culture as toxic, unfair, and dehumanizing. It’s been blamed for taking down people who may (or may not) have deserved a second chance. We’ve all become familiar with names like Harvey Weinstein and Roseanne Barr that have now been rendered infamous. Their reputations and careers will probably never recover after their controversies. But how has cancel culture impacted people in the music industry?
In many ways, it’s been very different. When you think about people like Chris Brown—convicted domestic abuser—it’s difficult to understand how he still has hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify and continuous sold-out shows. And he’s not the only one untouched by consequences. Kanye West vocally supported Trump and said slavery was a choice. Robin Thicke wrote a song glorifying date rape. Eminem never stopped using the F-slur. Melanie Martinez was accused of sexual assault.
They’re all still around, making music and making money.
It’s hard to imagine someone like Mario Batali continuing his career as though nothing was said about him. Practically the moment the allegations against him hit headlines, he was left without a job. Matt Lauer was also fired from his longtime role as Today Show anchor as soon as word got out of his own sexual assault allegations. And people seemed to move on quickly; they bought other cookbooks and watched other TV hosts.
We have to assume that one of the main differences between people like Batali and Brown lies somewhere in a PR department. ABC and NBC had to get ahead of any bad press and low ratings that’ve might resulted from keeping these men on their shows. Batali even later got fired by his hospitality group partner, who clearly didn’t want his name tarnishing their business. Chris Brown, on the other hand, remains on top. He hasn’t been struggling financially. He’s still on Billboard’s Top 40. His record label must assume they’re off the hook.
This isn’t to say that musical artists have never faced consequential hits to their career. R. Kelly is a perfect example of an exception to that rule. Since Lifetime aired Surviving R. Kelly, showcasing the extensive abusive and predatory behavior he’s done to women, powerful people banded up against him. Artists like Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, and Chance the Rapper all removed songs that had him featured from streaming services. Radio stations stopped playing his music, Sony/RCA dropped him from their roster, and he was finally convicted in court.
But even then, a female fan allegedly paid for his $100,000 bail.
So what is it about musical artists that ties fans so deeply to their personas?
Ultimately, people connect with musicians differently. Fans grow up and spend time listening to their favorite artists. They start to form subconscious—or, sometimes, hyper-conscious—connections to these people that they don’t know. They start to glorify them and associate them with the positive feelings their music evokes. Connections to music and lyrics are primarily rooted in emotion, so naturally, it’s harder for people to let go so quickly.
It happens to all of us. For me, it was Michael Jackson.
My dad raised my sister and me on Michael Jackson music videos recorded on VHS tapes. We ran those tapes into the ground and learned every word to every song. We developed a special connection to Michael Jackson and we all mourned his death like he was a family member.
So, naturally, when further sexual misconduct allegations came out against him post-mortem, all of us were skeptical. I had always been comfortable boycotting artists that were accused of controversies, always siding with the victim. But for Jackson it was different. I put off watching Leaving Neverland. Part of me didn’t want to believe it; I didn’t want to abandon that part of my childhood. And because of this, I started to understand why “cancelling” musicians was so difficult.
The most common argument justifying the continued support for problematic musicians is to separate the art from the artist. People should be able to enjoy the music created by artists as long as they can somehow make peace with their own cognitive dissonance. Just because the artist is controversial or unethical, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be able to listen to the music they’ve made—which might have a positive impact on others’ lives.
The problem with this argument is that it’s not ethically sound. There’s no real way to separate the art from an artist; listening to their songs and going to their concerts means supporting them financially and strengthening their platforms.
Even though pulling the plug on a strong emotional connection—as many of us have with musical artists—seems almost impossible, it isn’t. The beauty of the social media age is that it brought about the ability to remain educated and hold people accountable. It’s an opportunity to amplify marginalized voices and attain justice. So, yes, we do need to hold these artists—and each other—accountable.
If Roseanne can become The Conners, abusive musicians can be cancelled.
