Thanks to the rhetoric of right-wing politicians like former President Donald Trump, conservatives across the country are up in arms about "cancel culture," the voluntary mass withdrawal of support from a person or entity for unsavory, illegal, or abusive acts.
Far-right Congressman Jim Jordan said that cancel culture is the "most dangerous thing happening in the country today." facing the United States. Republican Congresswoman and prominent conspiracy theorist Marjorie Taylor Greene addressed a conference of white nationalists with the greeting, "hello, canceled Americans." Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer lamented last year that soon Bible characters would soon be "canceled" by the public.
But for all the pearl clutching surrounding so-called cancel culture, Republicans are all too eager to "cancel" any person or entity that doesn't genuflect to conservative ideology. We've already seen the mass abandonment of "RINOs" like the late Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, Republican Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, and Republican Representatives Liz Cheney of Wyoming and Adam Kinzinger of Illinois for condemning Trump's efforts to overturn the election.
Republican officials in Surry County, North Carolina banned Coca-Cola products from government vending machines after the company criticized Georgia's controversial voter suppression law. Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, despite enjoying widespread Republican support during his nomination process, was canceled by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who dismissed him as a "cringing little liberal" for not striking down vaccine mandates. The list goes on.
But the Republican hypocrisy on cancel culture became downright comedic in the wake of two tweets from conservative author Nick Adams.
At 7:25 pm on April 2, Adams tweeted that cancel culture "has no place in American society!"
Cancel culture has no place in American society!
— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) April 2, 2022
Less than a minute later, at 7:26 pm, Adams called for Disney to be stripped of its self-governing status and to have its copyrights revoked by Congress.
Disney should be stripped of their self-governing status in Florida and lose all copyrights protected by Congress.
Boycott them 100% and cancel your Disney+ account and credit cards!
— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) April 2, 2022
Adams joins the chorus of conservatives railing against a recent statement from Disney condemning House Bill 1557, colloquially known as the "Don't Say Gay" Bill. The bill, which was recently signed into law by Florida's far-right Governor Ron DeSantis, bans any classroom "instruction" on sexuality and gender from kindergarten to third grade, but critics say the broadness of the bill and its reliance on parental complaints will ultimately target LGBTQ teachers and students.
After social media users began calling him out, Adams attempted to claim he wasn't endorsing cancel culture at all.
Cancel culture = banning someone from Twitter because you don’t like what they say or kicking them off Spotify because their podcast talks about COVID
Cancel culture does not = boycotting Disney because they engage in woke politics
— Nick Adams (@NickAdamsinUSA) April 5, 2022
But social media users knew better.
It’s only cancel culture when it’s something I agree with. https://t.co/i1jgyalDR9
— Ryan Chapline (@ryanchapline) April 5, 2022
Uh, that’s exactly what it is. And we’ve been boycotting things forever. It’s how you make your money “talk.” It’s also a big part of capitalism.
— BeingHelpish 🌻 (@BeingHelpish) April 5, 2022
Should’ve left that one in the drafts sis 😬
— (((Brady Surface))) (@sirfache) April 5, 2022
Why is seeking to cancel Disney for its politics not cancel culture?
— john (@john06445709) April 5, 2022
“Cancel culture is when you’re mad at me, not when I’m mad at you”
— John Adams (@johnstuadams) April 5, 2022
You should probably invest in a dictionary. It's the literal definition 🤣
Definition of cancel culture
: the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling
— Stacy (@Stacy06920907) April 5, 2022
It wasn't long before Adams was facing the mockery of the internet.
You occasional reminder that conservative/GOP objections to "cancel culture" aren't that it exists, but that they don't hold exclusive rights. https://t.co/m94BQiDqKG
— Iron Spike (@Iron_Spike) April 3, 2022
It's no surprise. The current conservative platform is "we're going to hurt the libs" and "waaah stop oppressing us." https://t.co/ax0ghXKUZF
— Mike Dunford (@questauthority) April 4, 2022
The MAGA brain, ladies and gentlemen. #GOPHypocrisy https://t.co/QOas9EenIX
— P.D. White 🇺🇦🌻 (@whitepatrick) April 5, 2022
Awkward.