Canceled or Kanye’d?

Ye is canceled!

Yeah?

Yay?

Ye?

Is that something new? Haven’t we heard this before?

Of course, we have. “Slavery was a choice,” right, Mr. West?

But now, with his latest antisemitic ramblings, finally the musician, fashion designer and former South Sider formerly known as Kanye West – now Ye – is being canceled.

But is he really canceled?

Will people stop wearing their $400 Yeezys?

Will sports teams stop playing “Power” or other anthems at their games?

Does anybody really and truly get canceled?

That’s the question everyone seems to be discussing and coming up with different answers.

Ever since it was revealed that “freethinker” Ye had kosher beef with Jewish people – specifically business executives, company owners – his career seems to have been spiraling downward before our eyes. 

Unlike when some in the African American community put Ye on parole or outright exiled him, Kanye simply carried on, this time, when Corporate America decided to cancel Kanye, they hit him in his pockets.

The luxury brand Balenciaga – whose name he recently showcased in his grill – promptly dropped him.

The Gap took the apparel Kanye tried to sell out of trash bags and place their deal in the Dumpster.

Even his own brand, Yeezy, partially owned by Adidas in a deal that made him a billionaire, dropped him like he was hot.

That’s Corporate America – not social media America- or that part of our experience, I would call ‘Real Life.’

People still wear his shoes. People still play his music. People have yet to stop talking about him.

I honestly believe canceling Kanye is correct. Just because someone has a large following and a huge load of money (less and less with every voided contract) doesn’t make them exempt from the consequences of their words or their actions. West has a way of saying -tweeting – unexpected and bizarre things on social media, and unnecessary and brazenly disturbing comments in front of cameras. This was especially true when Kim Kardashian was in the processing of canceling – I mean, divorcing him.

During the Kim and Kanye de-tanglement, Ye, who is bipolar and clinically diagnosed conditions, made threatening remarks about comedian and Taco Bell-savant Pete Davidson, who briefly dated Kim. Ye evenly created music videos “dedicated” to Pete that were less than pleasant. Based on his past social media outbursts – and outbursts in general – moving from denying slavery to denying the Holocaust (or whatever Ye is saying today) isn’t a big leap into conspiracy theories.

And as conspiracy theories go, here’s one Ye’s dwindling supporters would have you consider.

Maybe his hate speech is just an elaborate business move.

There are rumors that Kanye has planned this all along to get out of his deal with Adidas.

For a while, before his Twitter outburst, Kanye had been struggling to get out of his deal with Adidas to move onto new projects with other companies and to have his own individual endeavors.

But that wouldn’t make sense because all the companies he wanted to collaborate with had also canceled him as of recently.

Right?

Of course, “crazy like a fox” is still…well…

Disavowing someone because of their detestable speech is one thing.

Throwing away pricey shoes is quite another.

Yes, Ye’s been dropped left to right from brand to brand, but that isn’t stopping people from wearing his merchandise. And that’s OK.

I don’t believe people shouldn’t stop wearing his shoes because it’s their choice on what they want to wear. And most people who wear them already own them, so it makes sense why they would still want to wear them. I mean let’s be honest, his shoes are more on the expensive side and money isn’t something to throw away like a business deal that makes you a billionaire.

Corporations and social media platforms seemed to have a problem with Ye sending antisemitic tweets.

But those same institutions remained silent when Kanye West, who claims to love his deceased mother so much, began making rude comments to Black women, trying to embarrass them while embarrassing himself.

Where was Adidas then?  What did The Gap have to say about that garbage? Or is The Gap only concerned when its merchandise is sold in garbage bags?

So, it’s OK to bash a random Black woman on social media for her clothes but not OK to sell clothes out of garbage bags?   

As a Black girl, I don’t want to support someone who constantly bashes girls and women who look like me. It seems as though, no matter what he does, people will always love him. 

Do famous people like Ye really get canceled?

At this point, we can assume that Kanye is canceled. But who knows, he might make a “comeback” someday. We have seen these things happen from time and time again. From Shane Dawson to Morgan Wallen, from Mel Gibson to Kevin Hart and from Chrissy Teigan to DaBaby, it seems as though a different celebrity gets canceled every second. But are they really canceled? 

Dave Chappelle has been cancelled. Yet, Chappelle hosted “Saturday Night Live” last weekend. And joked about Ye, being cancelled.

Will Smith has been cancelled. But his new movie, Emancipation, will be released in December. Will it earn Will an Oscar nomination? I guess if it really “slaps.”

Then, there is Shane Dawson. Oh, Shane. 

Dawson is a YouTuber who peaked in the late 2000s to early 2010s and most known for his conspiracy themed videos. He has been canceled for his racist past and inappropriate content involving a child.

Dawson’s YouTuber career was continuing to grow until his major cancellation. Due to his cancellation, Dawson said he has taken a “break” from social media all together but has made multiple attempts to make a comeback.

Now, it seems Shane Dawson is back and doing well on YouTube, and it doesn’t seem as though he struggles to get enough views. It seems as though everyone has moved on. Where are all the people who fought to get him canceled? Did they disappear?

Now, in the case of R Kelly, this might actually be a case of a true cancellation.

Well known for his singing career and holding minors captive in his house, against their will, R Kelly is unlikely to make a comeback. 

Still, we should remember that at the beginning of his trial, in the early 2000s, there were people who still supported R Kelly.

Even though there was proof to show that R. Kelly was not a good person worthy of support or praise, proof documented in articles and even a mini-series, “Surviving R Kelly,” there were still people who still showed up in front of the courthouse claiming he was innocent. A jury and a judge decided otherwise.

Does being a celebrity with a large following provide you with a protection shield made of vibranium?

Why is it so hard to fully cancel someone?

Is it because we want to admire their talents and the things we love about them, and forget about their wrongdoings so we can still like them without feeling guilty?

Or does our society have a very unhealthy relationship with idolizing celebrities to the point where they can do no wrong.

That seems to be a big problem, but how do we fix it?

Maybe there is a contradiction of feeling like you know someone but having real-life distance from that person.

Few of us will ever sit down and have lunch with Kanye or Shane. We think we know them, but we can be assured that they don’t know us.

This distance gives us the ability to put on their music or their slides or their videos, or not.

This gives us the ability to pick what we want – what’s good – about the celebrity and not feel connected to the controversial things they may do and pretend that nothing matters.