Over the last two centuries, celebrity worship has slowly made its way into mainstream media and has become endemic in the regular lives of the public. As Joshua Becker of Becoming Minimalist phrased it, “[P]eople care more about the lives of people they will never meet than the neighbor living next to them.” Now, in the 21st century, social media has heightened celebrity idolatry like never before. For the first time, fans can access an insider's view on celebrities’ lives, and take a front row seat to their actions and beliefs through posts, interviews, and comments. The common public can connect with their heroes and icons through the screen, which makes a fan feel connected to their idealized celebrity. In reality, this connection is completely false, as both parties are essentially strangers to each other under the guise of a screen and online accounts.

In theory, lots of fame and worship is largely beneficial to celebrities. Social media gives them a platform to curate their personalities, target an exact audience at all times, and constantly increase how much the public adores them. However, constant public examination of a celebrity’s life is a double-edged sword. No matter the celebrity or the fame that they possess, one factor is constant: the public loves to dole out their opinions, and the public offends easily. Public opinion about a celebrity can change from adoring to critical with the click of a button. It could be a conspiracy theory from a deep corner of the internet or a single hate post for a celebrity to get canceled. 

This precarious oscillation between celebrity worship and cancel culture can be seen most recently in the online hate against pop singer Chappell Roan. Roan achieved meteoric success in late 2023, after she opened for Olivia Rodrigo on the GUTS Tour. However, she recently began receiving backlash after she publicized her political opinions, which some fans disagreed with. Roan also canceled two upcoming festival appearances, citing the need to protect her mental health after dealing with online controversies, toxic fan interactions, and the overwhelming amount of fame she’s received. For this reason, fans have begun to label Roan as privileged. On X, formerly known as Twitter, both fans and critics have posted their frustrations with the singer and her controversies. In response to a The Face interview where Roan stated she would rather focus on long-term goals in her career rather than just winning a Grammy, one user posted, “[E]very time [Roan] opens her mouth it’s so to complain. [Does] she even want to be famous?”. Another user on the same platform stated, “She’s becoming unbearable, stop interviewing her.” Roan is the latest of many celebrities that the public has turned their back on, with many claiming that celebrities should expect to deal with both the positive and negative aspects of fame.

Such interactions point out the irony of celebrity worship and cancel culture. As much as fans like to put their favorite celebrities on a pedestal and proclaim their undying admiration for them, they also fail to realize that celebrities are just humans and can face the same day-to-day challenges as the rest of us. This is the crux of the problem with cancel culture: its immediate extremity leaves no room for the grace we would extend to those we know in real life. As easy as it is to make assumptions about celebrities and their personal lives, the public truly does not know celebrities in the way that they believe themselves to do. By immediately canceling a celebrity, they do not give the celebrity a chance to grow or change themselves as an individual.

All this is not to say that cancel culture is completely negative or unnecessary. After all, there should be a moral code regarding celebrities, a line between giving them grace and granting them impunity. In actuality, it is not cancel culture but the practice of celebrity worship that should be terminated. The public must understand that celebrities are not distant figures but real human beings that make mistakes or have opposing opinions. They have the same rights and liberties of free opinion and speech as the public. Ultimately, celebrities are simply strangers who are famous for doing the jobs they are paid for, and it is important for the public to remember that moving forward.

Information retrieved from X, Pew Research Center and Becoming Minimalist.