Cancel Culture is done, thank God

On By Littum

Justine Bateman did what some of Hollywood’s biggest stars refused to do.

She spoke out against Cancel Culture and attacked freedom of expression across Western culture.

Now she makes the podcast rounds to explain her views. She has spoken to Movie threat, Bret Easton Ellis Podcast and most recently “Ask Dr. Drew.”

Bateman and host Dr. Drew Pinsky explored artificial intelligence, free speech and more. The wide-ranging interview touched on cultural issues, such as what she called a creative stagnation that took hold in the early 21st century. That move, she argued, limited growth across the board.

“Technology was at the center … but the Internet also flattened time,” Bateman began. “And then you have this mob mentality momentum that allowed this cancellation culture, it’s done now, thank God, and you didn’t have a lot of new things coming out during that time.”

The suffocating atmosphere hit the funny bone hardest, she argued.

“One of the things that got slammed was satire and comedy,” she continued. “You find out the hard way that something was important when you eliminate it.”

“Satire and comedy … falls into a society and it didn’t exist,” she continued. “There are many other things that were missing that made our society go berserk a while there. I think people are hungry for it. They realize that it is a necessary nutrient in society, they hunger for satire.”

Both “Saturday Night Live” and late-night television handcuffed their voices during this period. Sure, both stung President Donald Trump early and often, but they often did so based on media distortions and left out many troubling issues ripe for ridicule.

Consider the waking mind virus as Appendix A.

This seven-year-old “SNL” skit proved the exception to the classic show’s rule.

New media personalities such as JP Sears, Tim Dillon and Ryan Long filled these gaps. That explains why rebellious comedians became so popular over the past decade. They scored Netflix specials, sold out Madison Square Garden and, in the minds of some, helped Trump win re-election.

How? They told the jokes, others refused to speak out loud.

Bateman doesn’t consider herself an “activist,” nor does she think progressive stars should be described that way. It’s just people with opinions, that’s all. Martin Luther King, Jr. was an activist, she clarifies.

She linked the rise of these virtue signals to the decline of comedy.

“If you’re going to succeed, the first thing you have to do is get rid of the comedy. So I think it was very specific. It was the revenge of the hall monitors, the party pranksters, the people who don’t get invited anywhere. And finally they could take their revenge… bottom line, they don’t feel worth it.

“I hope these people can now see their value without that drug,” Bateman said. “It’s kind of like an addict or an alcoholic. You’ve just taken alcohol away from all these people. Now they’re going to have to adjust to a life without it.”

Does that sound harsh? Perhaps. Bateman’s recent media appearances reveal a Hollywood veteran who emphasizes empathy, not anger.

“I’m excited for them. Now they can discover who they really are,” she added.