2025/03/10 by Eve Ng · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #Asian Culture and Media Studies #Media Studies and Communication
paper · doi:10.4324/9781003373025-40
openalex publication_date 2025/03/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/12/29
Entertainment fandoms have been a prominent part of what has been discussed, and often condemned, as “cancel culture.” It is important to recognize that cancel practices that look similar (criticism, withdrawal of support, removing access to content) can vary in their political characteristics due to different precipitating triggers and sociopolitical contexts. Illustrating these complexities, this chapter discusses fandom cancelling in relation to celebrity misconduct, media content and their creators, and political triggers. Celebrities have been targets of cancelling for minor failures of character as well as more harmful actions, and for their political stances, including perceptions of insufficient patriotism. Media producers have also been cancelled for their conduct, but additionally, face cancel actions due to creating representations deemed problematic. While fans often initiate cancelling, they sometimes work in concert with the state, notably in China, where government entities both participate as cancel agents and broadly regulate the actions of fans and celebrities. Elsewhere, user policies of digital platforms also shape cancel events, determining what may result in suspension or deplatforming. In these ways, fandom cancellings are neither inherently trivial nor politically progressive in motivation, and their political significance and outcomes are shaped by the conditions in which they play out.