Have you ever wondered why some famous people are entirely canceled while others manage to survive largely unharmed? For every Kevin Spacey ( canceled! ), there’s a Chris Brown ( not canceled! ). Why is that?
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PR practitioners have also weighed in on this subject.
Since the introduction of Cancel Culture and the# MeToo Movement, PR professionals have struggled to create “best practices” for helping users in risk. Usually in the past, a well-crafted explanation had three parts:
1.  , It honestly expressed remorse and regret,
2.  , A counter-narrative was introduced that was reputable and convincing,
3. An explanation was provided that assured the intended market that this would never occur again.
But if a celeb was accused of misbehaving on a movie set, he might have released a statement that 1. expressed shock, confusion, and dismay, 2. apologized to the aggrieved party – as well as to his followers, employees, etc., and 3. explained that a close relative ( or whatever ) had just passed away, or the transgressor been struggling for years with clinical depression, and now – finally – he was seeing a doctor so he could be a more productive alliance to women in the workplace and the best possible father to his adorable little girl. ( Plus, maybe a nice donation to an appropriately-aligned charity. )
But post-MeToo, this strategy just does n’t work very well anymore. And because there’s no agreed-upon, go-to plan to follow, you’ll see that brand responses to MeToo claims have varied madly. Some ignore them completely. Some are almost hilarious with their kowtowing, sniveling mea culpas. However, neither approach has consistently proven to be successful.
What then does a superstar be accused of?
The British people have a built-in sense of proportion: Poor activities should be punished, but the abuse may be good. The American people will start empathizing with the “bad guy” if the punishment is too harsh and harsh. We’re okay with evildoers losing an eye for an eye, but when it’s a head for an eye, we start to get squeamish.
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Mike Tyson is a prime illustration of this. He was accused of a violent, vile crime against a young woman, spent 3.5 years in jail, and is now a beloved cultural icon. In front of the entire world, he humbled himself, lost years of his athletic prowess, and took his place. This, along with ongoing questions about his culpability, has let him move on. It’s not an issue for Tyson anymore.
Related: PR Primer for the Trump Convictions: Make Voters Understand Who the Real Monsters Are
But alas, fairness is n’t the overriding factor in today’s Cancel Culture. That’s why it’s still so controversial. We’ve all heard about a comedian making a slight off-color joke ( or whatever ) and having his income taken from him. The only reason there is still a debate is because it’s impossible to tell the right path. It’s confusing.
In practice, Cancel Culture seems random. But it’s actually not.
And if Joe Biden does n’t want to leave the race, he absolutely, 100 % cannot be canceled.
Surviving cancelation is n’t about fairness. It’s not about the quality of the apology, either – at least, not primarily. Simply put, it depends on how you feel about the platform you use.
If your platform is a movie studio, they may decline to hire you again. Bam! You’re now canceled. Additionally, they may delete your account if your platform is a social media site. Bam! Canceled!
But if you control your own platform – either because you own it, or via legal contracts– then you’re essentially un-cancellable.
Because Joe Rogan’s contract protected him, Spotify was unable to sever him despite the COVID racial outcry. So it really did n’t matter how many videos where Rogan used the N-word were broadcast, and how many of his guests gave false medical information. That was n’t the litmus test for Rogan’s survival.
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If someone does n’t want to leave and you ca n’t legally force them, then they’re not leaving.
( Sure, you could apologize in any case, but your apology would serve a different PR purpose: protect your secondary financial sources and provide your partners with just enough protection to prevent their attorneys from actively looking for holes. )
The Democrats are legally unable to compel Joe Biden to resign. Even if the majority of Democrats want him to leave. Not even if the number of congressmen begging him to drop out doubles, or even triples, in size.
And the Democratic Party is not democratic, which is the justification.
Because they were terrified that Bernie Sanders would win the election, they devised a complex system of rules that allowed the Deep State Cabal of Party Elders to rig the outcome of the election. It’s as simple as that.
The same people who have ruined democracy for their own voters are now saying that Donald Trump will only save democracy. ( Trust them, of course! )
But if the Democratic Party does n’t even trust Democratic voters, why should anyone believe they’ll trust Republicans or independents? That’s not believable. As it turns out, Joe Biden did n’t just “beat Medicare”— he also beat the hell out of the Democrats ‘ credibility.
The wisest choice Joe Biden ever made, according to history, was selecting Kamala Harris as vice president. It’s not a PR trick but a Dilbert-era middle-management trick: If you do n’t want to be replaced, make sure your subordinates suck more than you do. And now the Democrats are locked in: There is no legal way to oust Biden, making him the least likely choice in the eyes of the American people. However, if you do n’t choose Harris, you have the optics problem of substituting a black woman for a man like Gavin Newsom. Do that, and Biden’s most loyal block – African Americans and the Congressional Black Caucus – might walk away completely.
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It’s a helluva dilemma.
No, the Democratic Party ca n’t cancel Joe Biden. But here’s the good news: This November, the American people can.
