Social media has made the world smaller with its cancel culture – often with good cause.
But the Diddy sex trafficking and racketeering case has brought to the fore a matter that could see everyone’s favourite celebs linked to the scandal being cancelled, writes Gasant Abarder in a new #SliceofGasant column.
I’ve learnt that at least one Cape Town station has taken Diddy’s music off rotation. This is good news because the details behind it certainly look damning if you’ve been following his first criminal court appearance. If they did it to R Kelly, then it should be applied to Diddy – or whatever he calls himself (Puffy, Puff Daddy, Diddy, etc.) – as well.
Police found all manner of items, like the now-infamous bottles of baby oil for alleged sordid parties and accounts of what went down at the rapper’s so-called white parties that would make the devil blush. Everyone who is anyone in showbiz has rushed to distance themselves from the hip-hop mogul. Big names have been mentioned, including power couple Jay-Z and Beyoncé, Usher, Kevin Hart, Leo Di Caprio, Jennifer Lopez and even a pastor and Michael Jackson.
No fictional Netflix series comes close to this real-life drama.
There’s talk that other artists could be implicated as Diddy and those in the know have loose lips. It is all over social media and it seems the catchphrase, ‘Ain’t no party like a Diddy party’, was no exaggeration. Perhaps the most disturbing of the allegations is that the sex trafficking and prostitution involved minors who were drugged to perform heinous sexual acts with Diddy’s guests while he recorded it on video.
The thing is that people are fickle. They’re happy to cancel certain celebs and ignore the exploits of others because these happen to be their favourites. This is the world we live in.
Hip-hop is my favourite genre because the best rappers can make real-life experiences an artwork. It’s social commentary with explicit lyrics, which adds to its authenticity. In other words, don’t play it in the car when you’re taking the kids to school. But when done properly, the music of our own Youngsta CPT, Dr Dre and Eminem is pure poetry.
Eminem recently dropped his newest offering called The Death of Slim Shady. Slim Shady is the artist’s alter ego and he used this character in a wild way to say just about anything he liked when he first burst onto the scene more than two decades ago. It was crude yet poetic and the public lapped it up with his albums going triple platinum in quick time.
In the latest album, as the name suggests, Eminem switches to Slim Shade from verse to verse to skilfully distancing himself from this alter ego to prevent himself from being cancelled for his wild antics in his early career. But of course, it’s a ruse and rather a satire of cancel culture. In one of the tracks, he references Diddy’s antics and the album was released before the arrest. It suggests everyone knew of the notorious parties and what went on behind locked doors but were all of a sudden shocked.
Eminem never pretended to be a role model and neither should Diddy ever be regarded as such. But it will be interesting to see who the public cancels and who gets a free pass. It’s hard to imagine ‘Queen B’ Beyonce getting cancelled by her army of fans. Personally, I cancelled folks in the past when I was active on social media. For example, when allegations were first brought to my knowledge that footballer Cristiano Ronaldo was allegedly involved in a sexual assault he quickly settled I decided to cancel him. I did the same when his former teammate Ryan Giggs was accused of gender-based violence.
I’ve realised that no one deserves to be put on pedestals because people fail. Humans make mistakes and some commit sins that are just plain unforgivable and unredeemable. The media plays a huge role: build them up and then break them down to get clicks.
It happens regularly to child stars. Britney Spears was a Disney staple and little girls looked up to her as a presenter of the Mickey Mouse Club. When she furthered her career as a young adult in a school uniform in her debut hit music video, Oops, I did it again, it had tongues wagging. Britney didn’t ask to be a role model for little girls but parents were raising eyebrows. Her career took off but bombed in a big way.
It’s all subjective. Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night, which has several suggestive lyrics, is often played on radio stations and little kids know all the words – like ménage a trois!
The question is, how far do we take cancel culture? Who decides what is acceptable? Who gets cancelled and who gets a free pass? The answer is simple: it’s you and me.
In politics, those lower down the rung, like the DA’s Renaldo Gouws, can easily be dumped, while the party’s most popular personality, Helen Zille, can literally say anything she likes on social media with zero consequences. Donald Trump has survived scandal after scandal and there is the very real possibility he will be returned to the White House. Author George Orwell’s famous line, ‘All animals are equal but some animals are more equal than others,’ rings true.
I’ve deleted Diddy’s music on my devices. I can’t unsee what I’ve read. As this case unravels, I may have to cancel more of my favourite musicians. Imagine the conundrum radio stations and other media platforms face. Perhaps the upshot will be more airtime for local artists on platforms.
It all boils down to, I guess, just how woke you are.
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