But in between Vaughan’s friendly chat with President Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...and Carano’s election-fraud tweets were dozens of other people who became the faces of cancel culture this year. They include famous people, like actor Chris Pratt and "Harry Potter" creator J.K. Rowling, and ordinary Americans, such as Tori Perrotti, a Target employee who turned a social-media shaming into an opportunity to do good.
Along the way, "cancel culture" became ensconced in the American lexicon, with even Trump referencing it in his July 3 speech at Mount Rushmore. He called cancel culture a political weapon of the left, "driving people from their jobs, shaming dissenters and demanding total submission from anyone who disagrees."
Trump himself has been accused of "canceling" people — and TV networks — with whom he disagrees. But the highest profile cases of 2020 involved outrage over conservative views and attempts to scuttle the careers or reputations of the people who expressed them.
Writing for RealClearPolitics, Charles Lipson, professor emeritus of political science at the University of reliably Democrat Chicago, aka The Windy City or Mobtown
...home of Al Capone, the Chicago Black Sox, a succession of Daleys, Barak Obama, and Rahm Emmanuel...
, said that departure from popular, socially approved views "is not just considered an error, much less an innocent one."
"It is considered immoral, illegitimate and unworthy of a public hearing. Although both left and right have moved steadily toward this abyss, the worst excesses today come from the left, just as they came from the right in the 1950s," Lipson wrote.
And although people on both the left and right decry cancel culture, it continued full-throated throughout the year. Here’s a look at a few of the faces of cancel culture in 2020, and how they’re doing now.
In addition to those mentioned above are Guardians of the Galaxy actor Chris Pratt and Star Wars: The Mandalorian actress Gina Carano.