ContextPhrase · Ages 12-30 · In use
cancel culture
Publicly turning against someone, often a celebrity, over something they said or did. Being "canceled" means losing support. A "callout" is a public post accusing someone.
He got canceled over an old video.
For parents and educators
Some see it as holding people accountable, others as mob behaviour. Among teens it can turn into a whole class dropping one kid over a rumour. A good talk: what is fair criticism, and what is piling on?
Where it came from
Grew on Twitter in the late 2010s. Merriam-Webster added the social media sense of "cancel".
Also heard as
canceled, cancelled, callout, call-out culture