Hannah Einbinder Calls Out 'Cancel Culture,' Comedians Who Are Bullies

Hannah Einbinder is the latest celebrity to speak out against cancel culture — or rather, the idea that anyone is actually getting canceled at all.

“Cancel culture” has been repeatedly denounced by those in power scared of facing any sort of social consequences for their actions over the last several years. Any pushback against questionable decisions, poor choices, and ill-advised jokes that punch down has often immediately been mocked as a “woke mob” coming after someone and trying to destroy their career.

But others have pointed out that “cancel culture” isn’t really a thing, and accountability isn’t the same as having your career tank.

Einbinder explained her opinion on these things during a recent interview with The Independent, agreeing that she doesn’t “think ‘cancel culture’ is what people think it is.”

“Anyone who has been ‘canceled’ is pretty much back to work, especially men. Even Bill Cosby is free,” she said. “I also think the Internet does not help when we’re talking about anything that requires nuance. People are being held accountable for the first time in history and I think that’s ultimately a good thing, but not all offenses are created equal and we are treating them as such, which is wrong.”

The Hacks star also added that she thinks “there are a lot of bullies who grew up to be comedians and they are just continuing to bully people,” and suggested that if people don’t like that sort of “hack” comedy, they should just not buy tickets to see their shows.

It’s possible Einbinder was referring to Dave Chappelle with those comments, as the comedian has repeatedly been under fire in recent months for making jokes at the expense of the trans community. After that controversy, initially revolving around his Netflix special, the streaming giant also released a comedy special from Ricky Gervais that some denounced as transphobic.

While the backlash to both varied from expressing disappointment to calls for Netflix to remove the specials, it’s safe to say that neither comedian was in any way, shape, or form “canceled” for their jokes, despite claims to the contrary. But maybe a little self-reflection and accountability wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.

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