As a Writer at BuzzFeed, I write and curate quizzes, listicles, and articles about everything from pop culture and history to food and fashion.

cancel culture is so stupid because you can’t demand that someone apologize for their actions, then refuse to accept the apology and refuse to give them any chance to actually change their behavior. what exactly do you want from them at that point?

It’s not “cancel culture” when you say something horrific and people don’t want to associate with you anymore

The viral 2019 interview with Dakota Johnson—where she called out the host for lying about not being invited to the actress' party, when Dakota had indeed called her—added to the backlash. 

These moments cemented people's frustration towards the TV show host, which led to intense scrutiny and backlash. 

In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, she revealed that she was viewed as someone who had become too problematic for the industry. She confessed to not getting offers after the trial and stunted her career. 

While she did appear in projects afterwards, she made her major comeback as a leading actress in Stranger Things in 2016. 

These incidents fed into the reports that she was difficult to work with behind the scenes. It quickly became part of her public reputation, and it had a considerable impact on her career. Later in 2016, she acknowledged that some of her public comments were mistakes, and she apologized to Shonda Rhimes regarding the Emmy incident.

The backlash went beyond criticism and into misinformation. There were reports of manipulated clips and AI-generated deepfakes circulating on the internet, making Pascal appear to be behaving inappropriately towards women. 

He wrote an apology for his antisemitic remarks in 2023, but in February of 2025, he started selling swastika T-shirts, resulting in Shopify taking down his webstore. In May 2025, he released a song called "Heil Hitler,' which had sampled a speech by Hitler. In 2026, he took a full-page advert in the Wall Street Journal apologizing for his antisemitic behavior. He stated, "I am not a Nazi or an antisemite."

He also spread false claims about George Floyd's death. Due to mounting media and public scrutiny, companies like Adidas ended their relationship with him.

The public and media backlash he faced was immense. Some defended his actions, arguing that he was trying to defend his wife from a joke, while others argued that physically assaulting someone on live television was not justified.

After mounting pressure, he acknowledged that he had behaved badly on The Late Late Show. 

Customers called for a boycott of her cosmetics company, and fans called her out for risking her child’s safety as well as the safety of others.

Von D initially defended her decision, stating that she and her husband had done their research. Later, however, she clarified that she was not an anti-vaxxer and that she regretted publicly discussing the subject. By then, the controversy had damaged her reputation and her brand. Many attributed her anti-vaccination comments to her departure from her beauty brand in 2020, although the company did not officially confirm this.

This scandal impacted her image and her career as she was dropped from projects associated with Hallmark and Netflix. 

However, in a separate interview with GQ, director Michael Bay said that executive producer Steven Spielberg had demanded that she be fired, although Spielberg himself later denied this. In the years that followed, public opinion became more divided over the incident, with some arguing that Fox had been excessively vilified for speaking out about uncomfortable working conditions.

He said, "A lot is being said about me right now, and I want to clear the air. I used poor judgment in speaking with anyone other than my wife in ANY kind of flirtatious manner. I did not have an affair; nevertheless, I crossed the line during a regrettable period of my life."

People mocked him for making a distinction between having an affair and sending inappropriate messages online. During this time, other women also claimed that he had sent them flirtatious messages.

Want to get your very own quizzes and posts featured on BuzzFeed’s homepage and app?