Republican Governor Kristi Noem of South Dakota recently shocked many of her conservative supporters by partially vetoing a transphobic bill that would bar transgender women from competing at a collegiate level.
Noem recently said she was "excited to sign" the bill, but told Fox News Tucker Carlson her thinking had changed after the National College Athletics Association (NCAA) threatened "punitive action."
The partial veto left both sides of the aisle angry at Noem: liberals believe her support for the bill is transphobic while conservatives are enraged Noem didn't follow through on signing it.
In response, Noem's communication's director, Ian Fury, decried the "conservative cancel culture" for trying to "cancel" the Governor for her actions.
Fury commented:
"Apparently, uninformed cancel culture is fine when the right is eating their own. A less impassioned review of the facts tells a much different story. Governor Noem has long stood for fairness in women's sports."
"If conservative media would take [five] seconds to read past the knee-jerk headlines and actually understand governor Noem's position, they'd come to a very different realisation."
Many conservatives online began claiming Noem's political future was over, but the governor insists she is not "caving" to the NCAA.
According to Noem, she is simply trying to add more sensitive language to the bill to "protect women's sports while also showing empathy for youths struggling with what they understand to be their gender identity" while still keeping transgender women out of college sports.
Once conservatives were the ones doing the "cancelling," they suddenly understood all of the arguments liberals have been making about "cancel culture" for years.
While some liberals online felt supportive of a politician being held accountable for going back on her word, they also felt uncomfortable Noem was being punished for doing something that was actually, in their opinion, good.
It seems "cancel culure" can come from the right. At least according to Governor Noem's office.
@PokerPolitics/X
@discogorilla/Bluesky
@SenSchumer/X
@WUTangKids/X