As Jennifer Aniston says she is over cancel culture, we look at the celebrities who agree with her

Jennifer Aniston is the latest celebrity to call out the ‘cancel culture’ phenomenon; in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal the "Friends" actress, 54, gave her thoughts on celebrities being instantly cancelled for mistakes they have made either past or present. 

Jennifer said “I’m so over cancel culture. I probably just got cancelled by saying that. I just don’t understand what it means.… Is there no redemption? I don’t know. I don’t put everybody in the Harvey Weinstein basket.”

It’s no surprise she is calling out the end of cancel culture after recently being branded a ‘Karen’ for appearing to try and cancel actor Jaime Foxx after he shared an angry post with illusions of anti-Semitism. The actress previously said that she would cut ties with friends and family members because they didn't want to get a COVID-19 vaccine which seems to be the definition of 'cancel culture'.

But it seems the "Friends" star isn’t the only person to feel we should move away from the cancel culture trend. British actress Jameela Jamil has been a long time advocate for ending the term and wants people to understand the difference between cancelling someone and calling them out. 

Speaking at Harvard University in 2020 Jameela said "Cancellation means being de-platformed, having your rights taken away, your job taken away, your finances being harmed.

It’s understandable that the actress would feel this way as she herself has admitted to being cancelled over 45 times in the past. However, the actress appeared to criticise Anna Wintour in 2023 when it was announced that the theme for the Met Gala would be the celebration of the late Karl Lagerfeld. 

Jameela spoke on her "I Weigh" podcast about celebrities and their "selective cancel culture” but it would seem she herself was campaigning to cancel the fashion designer - if you can still cancel someone who has passed?    

Chris Rock is another celebrity that has spoken out about the trend. In an interview in May 2021 with radio show The Breakfast Club the celebrated comedian said “when you’re a comedian, when the audience doesn’t laugh, we get the message. You don’t really have to cancel us because we get the message.”

This was a year before the infamous ‘Oscar’s slap’ where Will Smith slapped the comedian live on stage for making a joke about his wife Jada Pinkett-Smith. Viewers called for the actor to be cancelled - and Chris Rock may have changed his mind - but it was the comedian who ended up getting part of his comedy routine about the situation on his Netflix show, coincidentally titled "Selective Outrage". 

Cancel culture is the phrase used to refer to a recent trend in which those who are deemed to have acted or spoken in an unacceptable manner are ostracised, boycotted, or shunned. It has been debated in recent times if "cancel culture" and it's pertinance as a form of activism has become diluted with a number of attempts to cancel figures only emboldening them to a wider public - Donald Trump for example.