Recently, “canceling” celebrities has become common in pop culture. Even Taylor Swift, with her huge popularity and influence, has not been immune to its effects.
Swift received Album of the Year for “Midnights” at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards. Even though her fans were thrilled, she received backlash for not acknowledging Celine Dion, who presented the award.
Swift hugged a couple of people including her producer, friend and sound engineer when she got on stage. As she took the trophy from Dion’s hands, Swift’s head was still turned toward her partners. This caused a lot of people to attack her on social media.
There are many other instances where the spotlight was on Swift for negative reasons. Recently, it has been reported that she is the celebrity contributing the most carbon emissions in the world. Some people are upset that there isn’t more coverage on this issue and that Swift isn’t getting called out for it.
The media has “canceled” celebrities such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Elon Musk because of their carbon emissions. Even though it is important to bring awareness to an issue like this, celebrities are also people and should be given time to learn and adjust.
Celebrities are always under the microscope, and people are too quick to “cancel” them for any wrong move they make. I don’t think that’s fair. It is important to call them out and acknowledge the situation. However, that does not mean there should be hate towards that celebrity online. It should be an opportunity. The media picks and chooses who should be “canceled.” They also lift people up one week and put them down the next, which isn’t right.
lkelyman@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of Makaiyla Willis, Wikimedia
