Former reality star Kelly Osbourne has hit back against cancel culture in the wake of her mother, Sharon, exiting “The Talk” after she endured an onslaught of criticism for daring to defend Piers Morgan’s attacks against Meghan Markle.
Speaking with “Extra,” Osbourne said that cancel culture has made everyone afraid of making a mistake.
“I didn’t know what was really going on in this country because I just thought that simply being not racist was enough,” she said, as reported by Fox News. “It’s not, it’s actually not, you have to be actively not racist and educate yourself and learn, and don’t be afraid to make a mistake, everybody’s so afraid of cancel culture. I say f*** cancel culture, it’s all about counsel culture.”
“Educate people, teach people… a gentle nudge in the right direction is so much better than a public execution,” she added.
Earlier this week, actor LeVar Burton (“Star Trek,” “Roots”) argued that cancel culture does not really exist and hailed these new cultural shifts as “consequence culture.”
“In terms of cancel culture, I think it’s misnamed. That’s a misnomer,” he told Meghan McCain on “The View.” “I think we have a consequence culture, and that consequences are finally encompassing everybody in the society, whereas they haven’t been ever in this country. I think there are good signs that are happening in the culture right now. I think it has everything to do with a new awareness of people who were simply unaware of the real nature of life in this country for people who have been othered since this nation began.”
Burton’s rejection of cancel culture followed Marvel actor Don Cheadle recently saying that cancel culture is “not really real.”
“I guess it’s real to the degree that you listen to that noise. I don’t know that people are purely canceled because … I don’t know that there are any pure irredeemable situations unless it’s been deemed, not that you have said something off, but that you are that way and that there is stuff in your past that is consistent with that thing that you said, that one-off thing that looked like a one-off moment,” Cheadle told Fox News earlier this year.
However, other Hollywood celebrities have come out against cancel culture, specifically denouncing it for its lack of mercy.
“We live in this ‘cancel culture’ of people erring and doing wrong — either on purpose or by accident — and there’s less forgiveness in our world,” actor Bryan Cranston told The Associated Press.
“I think we’re unfortunately in a coarser environment. I think our societies have become harder and less understanding, less tolerant, less forgiving.,” he added. “Where does forgiveness live in our society? Where can we accept someone’s behavior if they are contrite, if they are apologetic and take responsibility? Isn’t it possible that forgiveness plays a part of that and they are welcomed back in, as opposed to creating more fences, creating more, ‘you’re out, you’re in, that’s it.’ You make one mistake, gone.”
RELATED: LeVar Burton: Cancel Culture Is ‘Consequence Culture’