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Gendered Comebacks in Cancel Culture

By Dilara Kurt

On the one hand, there are reactions like “Don't pay attention to positive comments” and “You ever see something and immediately understand why a dislike button should exist?” and on the other hand, “legendary” or “KING”. These were the comments under the latest posts of Amber Heard and Chris Brown. While Heard still gets hate comments referring to the scandalous trial with her ex-husband Johnny Depp in 2022, the American singer Chris Brown is once again being hyped for his latest songs. However, his scandal in which he assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009 is no longer mentioned in any of his Instagram posts. So, it seems not all scandals are forgotten over time. How does it happen that for similar misbehavior an actress has to give up her career and retreat into a quiet life, while a singer’s concerts are sold out? How does cancel culture deal with forgiveness and second chances?

The Cambridge Dictionary defines cancel culture as “a way of behaving in a society or group, especially on social media, in which it is common to completely reject and stop supporting someone because they have said or done something that offends you.” Two terms in this definition highlight the difficulty of dealing with this phenomenon: “completely reject” and “you.” Both highlight the extremity and subjectivity of judgement on social media. If you take a closer look, it is not hard to see that in cancel culture judgement and criticism are not always fair, nor do they follow a consistent pattern. This is especially clear in these two cases: While Amber Heard completely disappeared from the spotlight after the case against her ex-husband Johnny Depp, Chris Brown continues his career as a successful singer, even though it came out that he physically abused his ex-girlfriend Rihanna in 2009. These two examples highlight the idea that in cancel culture, with its inconsistent and unpredictable characteristics, the scandals of male and female offenders are treated differently when it comes to determining to what extent someone should be boycotted or accepted again.

While the case of Heard and Depp involves private matters related to “false allegations” that are difficult to prove, media reports covering the case provide important clues regarding the accusations. Both parties accused each other of violence during their marriage. Although some of Heard’s accusations were proven, all denied by Depp, the court ultimately decided in favor of Depp, awarding him $10.35 million for compensation and Heard, who was defamed by Depp’s lawyer, only $2 million for compensation. If you take a look at the latest social media posts of them, you can see that negative comments and accusations regarding the case still appear under Heard’s posts, while the case is no longer mentioned in Depp’s social media, who, on the contrary, receives lots of support and love. Probably because the court decided in his favor. On the other hand, Chris Brown and his then-girlfriend Rihanna had a fight, which then turned to physical violence. Brown left Rihanna with visible facial injuries and hospitalized her. In both cases, the shitstorms quickly went viral in the media, were highly emotionally charged, and dealt with physical violence.

However, the differences between these two examples became clearer after the shitstorm. After the court chose Depp as the “winner”, Heard received massive criticism from the public, even though some of her accusations were supported by evidence. As a result, the actress withdrew from Hollywood and now leads a quiet life in Madrid with her children. Furthermore, in the comment section of her latest Instagram posts, people still refer to the scandalous trial, mocking Heard through hate, memes, and gifs. In comparison, Brown today arranges his new R&B Tour with Usher and regularly publishes new songs. Despite multiple scandals, he continues his career and receives huge support from his fans. Under one TikTok video, summarizing his incidents with other celebrities, there are still comments like “I still love him”. Only a few comments question his behavior and criticize the support of his fans. As a result, Brown is predominantly accepted after his scandals, just like Johnny Depp, while Heard was not able to successfully repair her image.

This comparison highlights the inconsistent aspects of cancel culture and raises the question of how gender influences public perception. In this context, different societal expectations of the genders could play an important role. Women in general are expected to behave more calmly and show emotional control than men. Therefore, similar scandals can be perceived and interpreted differently. While Brown is perceived as a tough “bad boy” always involved in trouble, Heard was portrayed as a toxic and manipulative wife in the media for months. Even though it seems questionable to me, Brown and Depp are forgiven more easily and more quickly than the abusive wife, Amber Heard. The trial showed that Depp was not a perfect husband either, and additionally, some accusations against Depp were also proven. Besides, compared to Brown, Heard also was not involved in similar scandals with other celebrities, but why did she have to pay the highest price? Even though both men in these examples are no better than her, partially even worse, they still had the chance to rebuild their public image and continue their careers, whereas Heard had to give up everything. This shows how men in Hollywood have it easier to recover from scandals and how the media gives them more benefits in order to rebuild their public image, while women face harsher and stricter public reactions. So, gender is not the only factor here but is nonetheless still an important influence when it comes to recovery and forgiveness.

Online shitstorms escalate quickly and can cause severe damage. Therefore, cancel culture does not follow any pattern but is rather based on subjective perception, personal emotions, and social expectations. Although fairness in cancel culture remains uncertain, one thing is always true when it comes to social media: The internet never forgets – especially women.

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