Armie Hammer is back. So are Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, Jonathan Majors, Louis C.K., Brett Ratner, and other canceled stars.
Cancel Culture, which tore through Hollywood over the last decade, is losing its grip. No longer do comedians fear that an old stand-up routine might “resurface” and crush their careers.
Artists with troubling pasts can work again, allowing audiences to judge whether they’re worthy of forgiveness.
That’s great news, but a strain of Cancel Culture remains very much in place. It’s purely ideological in nature, and it’s supported by mainstream media outlets, Hollywood, Inc., and the culture at large.
Embrace MAGA, President Donald Trump, or simply the Right, and watch it snap into action.
For some stars, being apolitical is seen as an unofficial conservative pose and, sadly, worthy of condemnation. Sydney Sweeney has faced media scrutiny for not formally embracing a political party. That intensified after press outlets learned she had registered as a Republican in Florida but refused to share her ideological beliefs.
That media focus intensified after her far-Left critics complained her American Eagle jeans ad, where she playfully said she had good “jeans,” was seen as a white supremacist dog whistle. Media outlets ran with the absurd attacks.
Another tiny example happened recently with the opening of the Great American State Fair. Singer Leonard Cohen’s estate decried the potential use of the late singer’s “Hallelujah.”
This particular event highlighted the enduring Cancel Culture movement.
The Great American State Fair originally hired a gaggle of fading music stars, including Bret Michaels, Young MC, and Vanilla Ice, to entertain the crowd. The media played up the event’s loose connection to Team Trump – the administration tasked with creating the event to honor the nation’s 250th birthday.
The assembled artists quickly fled the gala, either suggesting the concert would be too political in nature (without evidence) or that they’ve been threatened with violence for appearing (Michaels).
Comedian Bill Maher called foul on the artists’ decision.
Wouldn’t it have been better to play this gig? … It’s a month-long gig, lots of people, like — just celebrating America. Can’t we all just celebrate America itself and leave Trump out of it?
That misses the point.
The musicians want to keep performing, and they know that being associated with any event tied to President Trump might hurt their careers. Said careers weren’t exactly thriving to begin with, putting even more pressure on them to conform.
Yet roughly the same time, we saw a group of high-profile musicians, including U2’s Bono and The Edge, and Bruce Springsteen, perform at President Barack Obama’s presidential museum opening.
They didn’t fear professional pushback (nor should they). This wasn’t a patriotic event to honor a national holiday. The opening celebrated the most prominent Democrat in the nation, and in doing so, the musicians didn’t face violent threats or attacks on their professional future.
That’s as it should be. Yet there’s an extreme double standard in play. Just ask British singer M.I.A.
She joined Kid Cudi’s Rebel Ragers tour earlier this year as an opening act, but she quickly lost the gig for saying the “wrong” thing on stage.
She shared Right-leaning opinions, and in a New York minute, she was gone. The singer later filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against Kid Cudi.
The media reported the lawsuit but didn’t share any outrage over the singer’s free speech rights or the potential of wrongful termination. Nor did reporters note the irony of Springsteen creating an entire tour to spread his far-Left views while M.I.A. lost her job for sharing a fraction (of a fraction) of that political commentary.
Perhaps the best example of the media trying to cancel a superstar for aligning with MAGA came courtesy of Nate Bargatze. He’s the most successful comedian of the moment, a squeaky-clean stand-up who sells out arenas and never discusses politics on or off stage.
Bargatze attended the recent White House/UFC extravaganza, an event meant to honor the nation’s upcoming birthday and showcase the popular sport. Bargatze was not only on hand for the fights but snapped pictures with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and his wife, actress Cheryl Hines.
That sparked several media outlets to shame Bargatze for the snapshots, including The Daily Beast and Parade magazine. They played up a small sample of “outraged” social media users to buttress their flimsy argument.
“USA TODAY has reached out to Bargatze’s rep for comment.”
What comment?
Yes, I attended the event. No, I don’t refuse photographs from people, regardless of their political leanings.
It’s absurd and tantamount to press bullying. And it quickly got worse. A few days later, far-Left comedian W. Kamau Bell slammed Bargatze for palling around with “fascists,” sparking a fresh wave of media coverage, including Variety.
The not-so-subtle message? Cozying up to MAGA in any way is like supporting fascism. That’s actually fascist.
Bargatze had to issue a public statement saying he’s a big UFC fan and remains apolitical.
Had Bargatze attended a similar event with a Democrat in the White House, the moment would have gotten little, if any, coverage. Or, it might have expanded his already huge career.
Why would the media pile on Bargatze? He’s technically too big to cancel, but it’s all about sending a message. Align with the Right in any manner, be it a social media post or a simple selfie, and you’ll be “outed” and punished.
The comedian will survive this news cycle. Lesser stars might not, and thus they’ll stay quiet moving forward.
None of this should be surprising. Actors like James Woods, Kevin Sorbo, Scott Baio, and more have faced retribution for simply leaning to the Right.
Hines hasn’t had an acting gig since her husband joined the Trump administration. She isn’t even a part of Larry David’s new HBO Max series, “Life, Larry and the Pursuit of Unhappiness.” That’s despite David working with stars he’s collaborated with over the decades on the show, including Jerry Seinfeld, Susie Essman, Vince Vaughn, and more.
And she’s not even conservative. Her crime? She’s married to a former Democrat who felt he could do some good for the country by joining the Trump administration.
It’s why Hollywood conservatives created Friends of Abe long ago. The secretive group once met to network, bond, and share horror stories about the professional pummeling they face for being on the Right.
The group still exists and remains an off-the-record affair.
The ironic part? Cancel Culture against conservatives has existed in Hollywood for some time. The term became popular when that punishment expanded to include anyone who ran afoul of the progressive narrative, AKA woke.
Now, as woke fades and Cancel Culture cases shrink, it’s back to where it originally thrived, punishing conservative stars who dare speak their minds or pose for selfies.
***
Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of HollywoodInToto.com. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood. He’s also the host of The Hollywood in Toto Podcast. Follow him at @HollywoodInToto.