Three celebrities I loved as a kid that are now apparently 'cancelled'
A few months ago, one of the world’s most successful stand up comics released a new movie. The movie was called Unfrosted, and the comedian was Jerry Seinfeld.
Unfrosted is now regarded as one of the worst films of the decade. I watched it, and it sucks. Take my word for it. It’s 93 minutes you will never get back.
That being said, with every new movie comes a publicity campaign, and Jerry Seinfeld has been doing his fair share of interviews to promote his shit show. Aaaaaand, that’s led to a fair bit of ‘negative’ press, with calls for him to be ‘cancelled.’
I’ve thought a lot about cancel culture over the last half decade or so, and I have many thoughts. But one thing I’ve grappled with over the years is how I feel when someone I REALLY like gets ‘cancelled.’
I use ‘cancelled’ in inverted commas, because I don’t think many people are actually cancelled — I think the media generally drives against them for clicks and curates a narrative that is mostly perpetuated by a small minority of vocal people.
But I wanted to write about three celebrities I LOVED as a kid (and to be honest, still -kind of like) and what I think the big deal is with them being - *ahem* - ‘cancelled.’
#1 - JERRY SEINFELD
I grew up watching Seinfeld because my dad liked it, and my brother and I eventually bought the DVD box set from Sanity (I’m old, clearly) and binged the whole series.
I was always enamoured by Jerry Seinfeld’s ability to turn an everyday situation into an on stage bit. What I admired about him was his nonchalance, and his observational style comedy that depended predominately on the mundane and monotony of every day life.
Seinfeld (the show) was never particularly offensive or edgy. It was a snapshot of day to day life in 90s New York, and was (as is commonly repeated) pretty much just about… nothing.
Now, at the humble age of 70, and the humble net worth of juuuuust under $1 billion, Jerry seems to be pretty comfortable voicing his opinions.
Recently, he made comments about missing ‘dominant masculinity,’ about celebrating privilege, and about how comedy has just become ‘too woke’ nowadays.
So, what’s my verdict?
To be honest…
I don’t particularly care.
I’m happy for Jerry Seinfeld to have whatever opinions he wants. I think his TV show from the 90s is hilarious. I find him to be a brilliant observational comic. I also find him to be slightly arrogant and sometimes slightly mean. But I don’t have to like everything about him. And I think that’s okay.
#2 - EMINEM
Second on my list is one of the most successful hip-hop artists of all time, Eminem.
Eminem is one of my favourite artists of all time. I have spent hours and hours of my life listening to his records, some of which, admittedly, are problematic by today’s standards (and the standards of the time they were written.)
A couple of weeks ago, the 51 year old released his newest song, ‘Houdini,’ which resulted in a widespread campaign of Gen-Z’s trying to cancel him*
(*Apparently this happened on TikTok, which I no longer use.)
I loved his new song - which oozed nostalgia.
But the thing is - I can definitely acknowledge the broad spectrum of Eminem’s discography.
Some of his songs are simply vile. Riddled with sexism, violent remarks about women, homophobic comments and drug fuelled rants.
Some of his songs are poignant reflections on his troubled upbringing, his problems with addiction, his desires to be a better father to his children, and him coming to terms with his relationship breakdowns.
Again, I feel like I can take the good and leave the bad. There are songs by Eminem that I never want to listen to again (‘Kim’ - his most vile - don’t listen to it) but there are songs that I find motivational, profound, sometimes touching and almost always deeply personal that emphasise his incredible storytelling ability and penmanship.
So, is Eminem actually ‘cancelled?’ I don’t think so.
‘Houdini’ debuted at #2 on the Billboard charts, and is his best charting single in a decade. It currently has 68M views on YouTube.
#3 - CHRIS LILLEY
Ahh, Chris Lilley.
When Summer Heights High aired on the ABC back in 2007, I was completely encapsulated by Lilley’s ability to simply disappear into three completely different characters: Ja’mie: the private school girl, Jonah: the high school misfit, and Mr. G: the flamboyant drama teacher.
His follow up, Angry Boys, spoke to me on another level in it’s approach to masculinity, boyhood and the sometimes hard truths of growing up. I related heavily to many of the characters in the show, and I thought it’s strength were more in it’s emotional depth than the comedy of Summer Heights High.
That being said, Lilley was heavily criticised for his character S.mouse, the African-American rapper who seems to be a parody or satire of young rappers who find fame at a young age.
Lilley dons blackface in his portrayal of S.mouse, which garnered backlash both at the time (2010), but also, as time went on. In particular, Angry Boys was removed from streaming giant Netflix in the wake of the BLM movement in 2020. Similar criticisms would eventually follow for Jonah - for Lilley’s use of brownface.
Interestingly, the abusive Japanese mother Jen Okazaki (also from Angry Boys) did not receive as much attention for playing at Asian stereotypes, but I digress.
So here is my verdict. And it’s a truth that some might find difficult.
I actually still really like Chris Lilley. I think he’s hilarious. I think his characters are unbelievably human, and I think his acting ability is unmatched.
Do I think S.mouse should be played again, in 2024? No. I don’t.
But what I think we should question is the system that allowed the character to exist in the first place, and the amount of executives at the ABC (and HBO - who coproduced the show) who must have approved it.
Chris Lilley maintains that he is not, in fact, cancelled, which I tend to agree with. Most of his social media profiles continue to post highlights of his shows, and his fanbase clearly engages with them to this day. His most recent show, Lunatics, was produced by Netflix, and exists on the platform to this day.
So there you have it. Three celebrities I loved as a kid (and still quite like now) that are now ‘cancelled.’ Of course, I’d love to know your thoughts too, so leave a comment!
Mike Liberale
Hey! Thanks for reading my blog which I do every fortnight. I also do a bunch of other stuff all over the internet which I’d love for you to check out. In fact, I talked a bit about Jerry Seinfeld’s ‘cancellation’ over on my YouTube channel this week, which you can find here:
Overall agree with the sentiment esp re Chris Lilley - but Seinfeld dated a literal teenager as a grown ass adult. Big ick.