I agree it’s like people are going out of their way to find dirt of actors (especially poc ones), even if it’s from years ago. And then they do not take into account the changes that person has made in this time. We all have been or are young and stupid, these ‘problematic’ actors are just famous now. Cancelation culture is a big issue because it takes one mistake you did (which should be something to take accountability of, though) and ignores the situation that person was going through, the context, and the growth or development of that person.
And it is very concerning how this is attacking poc celebrities the most. Someone sees a poc led movie or series is popular and successful, they now have the need to dig up and look for any shit the actors did or wrote. It’s also a problem how many people have the motto of “We have to separate actor from character/movie”, but then if that person is POC they don’t follow it.
Another problem is the idealization of these celebrities. We think they are perfect, gods, and that they can’t do anything wrong. But the truth is that they are just people like us, who just have a job that makes them famous.
HOWEVER, we cannot just defend these people and act as if they never did anything wrong. We have to take into account that even if they don’t want to, many people look up to them. Many people will have x person as an idol and if they see they tweet racial slurs for fun, they will think they are right and will do it too.
Although I believe we have to protect POC actors, we have to hold them accountable for their mistakes. Yes, there’s a fine line because Shang Chi it’s the representation many people have wanted for a long time, and it’s already been attacked by racists, but we shouldn’t just be afraid of holding accountable Simu Liu as if we were attacking the movie.
And regarding the Anthony Mackie situation, I think saying he just didn’t ship what we shipped is a bit out of context. He shamed people who shipped SamBucky and almost said they were predators. And then saying they “exploit the beauty of homosexuality”…? I think he was being more ignorant than homophobic, and it was mostly a problem on how he worded these sentences. I will still support the new Captain America, we should all support it. But if we don’t hold accountable this people, they won’t learn from their mistakes. So at the end, we will be harming them and the community they are (maybe not meaning to but still) attacking, being the black, Asian, native, LGBTQ+, disabled…
So summing up, cancellation culture is wrong in so many levels, but we should still hold accountable celebrities who make this kind of mistakes.