Olivia Telecky-

On the Netflix reality show Hype House, TikTok stars complained about their experience with cancel culture. Nikita Dragun, after being accused of blackfishing (which is where one purposefully darkens their skin and/or changes features to appear as a minority), shared that she was canceled. People unfollowed her, brands didn’t want to collaborate with her, and she lost her career opportunities. Dragun shared this on her Netflix reality show, a large career opportunity where a major brand worked with and paid her, and she got plenty of exposure. This doesn’t make it sound like she was canceled. In fact, today she has 8.1 million followers on Instagram and 14 million on TikTok. Dragun isn’t the only influencer to slip through the cracks of accountability; several influencers who were forced to apologize for their negative actions were able to successfully keep their audience through their controversy.

Logan Paul made a “severe and continuous lapse in judgment” when he filmed dead bodies during one of his vlogs and posted it on YouTube. Because of this, YouTube temporarily suspended his pay and parents swore they wouldn’t allow their children to watch Paul anymore. So where is he today? He has 23.6 million followers on YouTube, with his most recent video having 6.9 million views, his podcast ImPAULsive has 4.74 million followers, and the launch of his energy drink, PRIME, was incredibly successful with stores selling out immediately. Some people sell PRIME on Etsy for thousands of dollars because the flavors were sold out of stores everywhere. It isn’t as if Paul was controversy-free after the vlog either; he has been accused of inflating the market for Pokemon, creating a crypto scam, and disrespecting the art of boxing. His brother, Jake Paul, was also plagued with controversy from online scams targeting children to climbing on top of a news van that was reporting on the negatives of his neighborhood. Mainstream media outlets have reported on his crimes, most recently fraud charges, and yet Jake Paul has successfully gone on a nationwide tour, has 20.8 million subscribers on YouTube, has a brand deal with Walmart, and is partnering with Netflix to stream a boxing match between him and Mike Tyson.

No matter the avenue that influencers take when apologizing, the result is the same. Colleen Ballinger was mocked across the internet for apologizing for grooming minors by releasing a ukulele song called ‘Toxic Gossip Train’. Yet today, she has 8.25 million YouTube subscribers on her main channel, 3.04 million on her vlog channel, and 10.5 million on her Miranda Sings channel, proving that even the worst apologies are accepted on the internet. In fact, apologies are not necessary to avoid true cancellation. Mr. Beast has been facing several allegations in the past two months such as running illegal lotteries, crypto scams, knowingly hiring sexual predators (on a channel whose audience is mostly children), workplace misconduct, lying about his charity, and even breaking the Geneva Conventions. Mr. Beast is also currently being sued by contestants of his reality show “Beast Games”. He didn’t release any form of statement until four days ago and still has not apologized to this day. However, even before his statement was released, he maintained 327 million YouTube followers and was consistently getting over 100 million views on every video.

Another influencer who has kept a majority of their audience without any statement about their controversy is Cody Ko. On Tana Mongeau’s podcast, ironically titled Canceled (with 2.41 million subscribers and a nationwide tour currently underway), Mongeau shared that Ko had a sexual relationship with her when he was 25 and she was only 17. Because she was under the age of consent, this relationship was not only creepy but also illegal. Since these allegations have hit the mainstream, Ko has not posted anything. Despite this, his most recent Instagram post comments are very positive towards him, saying that no one remembers the controversy, it doesn’t even matter, and people want another video from him. There was even one petition to un-cancel him. Even though his internet silence makes him seem canceled, he still has 5.81 million YouTube subscribers waiting for his return and has maintained a successful DJ career throughout, with him continuing to perform sets.

Influencers are not the only people who are unsuccessfully called to be canceled. Chris Brown, famous for his domestic violence against his then-girlfriend Rhianna, had two chart-topping singles when people called for his career to end. Today, he has more gold records than Elvis, is still selling out stadiums, and has 48.7 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Several musicians were able to continue their success after becoming infamous. Doja Cat has a history of using racial slurs, calling her own audience stupid, and frequenting online forums filled with hate speech. Most recently, she filmed a video wearing a shirt with an alt-right comedian and known Neo-Nazi on it. Yet, she still has 24.2 million Instagram followers and 52.6 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Ice Spice is another musician who has faced controversy after a six-part series was released on TikTok by one of her close friends depicting how she was mistreated on tour. Per the theme of this story, she still has a large following with 14.9 million monthly listeners.

Though Justin Timberlake was worried that his DWI arrest would “ruin the tour”, it seemingly had no effect. He still has 40 million monthly listeners on Spotify and has even added more tour dates. Timberlake is not unique in his ability to host a successful tour post-cancellation. Ellen DeGeneres was threatened with canceling a few years ago when several cases of workplace misconduct came out against her and The Ellen Show. After allegations that she fired employees after they took necessary medical leave, DeGeneres was able to go on tour and partnered with Netflix to release a new special letter this year. She also was able to keep her show and retained 137 million Instagram followers. DeGeneres was closer to being “truly canceled”, with her show being shut down, yet she lost more fans when she came out as a lesbian than she did after facing allegations of mistreating employees.

Whether someone is guilty or innocent is irrelevant, as the Deep V. Heard trial of 2022 uncovered. After Amber Heard claimed she was abused by her ex, Johnny Depp, his contract with Disney was terminated. However, a court of law found Heard guilty of defamation, and the court of public opinion considered Depp innocent of domestic abuse. In fact, many people viewed Heard as the true abuser. Still, Heard was recently invited to the Taormina Film Festival and was celebrated for her role in the film In the Fire, and her first movie post-trial, Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, made over $400 million globally. Depp has also bounced back from this controversy and is slated to star in the upcoming thriller Day Drinker. Cancel culture is equally ineffective no matter how guilty or innocent the party is.

Being canceled is something that celebrities have complained about in both traditional media and social media. In reality, though, it doesn’t exist. Just about anyone in entertainment has the ability to return successfully after a controversy. “#_____isoverparty” doesn’t actually mean anything. Cancellation is nothing but a buzzword disguised as the action of holding someone accountable. True accountability is only possible when someone holds themselves to that standard, and as a society, we have not been able to force that upon someone.