Cancel culture has become quite a common phenomenon in the world of social media.
These days, if a public figure, celebrity, or company does something that is deemed offensive by social media users, people will swiftly and verbally withdraw support for the accused in an attempt to "cancel" them.
This year, we have seen the hashtag "#CancelJKRowling" circulated on social media as a result of comments she made that were deemed to be transphobic.
And upon the release of the Hamilton on Disney+ last month, many people tweeted the hashtag "#CancelHamilton" due to the musical's portrayal of slave owners.
However, British comedian and actor Ricky Gervais has now spoken out about the rise of cancel culture, and his thoughts on the online shaming trend.
Speaking to The Metro, Gervais said: "Everyone’s got a different definition of cancel culture.
"If it is choosing not to watch a comedian because you don’t like them, that’s everyone’s right. But when people are trying to get someone fired because they don’t like their opinion about something that’s nothing to do with their job, that’s what I call cancel culture and that’s not cool.
"You turning off your own TV isn’t censorship. You trying to get other people to turn off their TV, because you don’t like something they’re watching, that’s different."
How long with Gervais be able to get away with jokes like these:The 59-year-old star then explained that the trend becoming detrimental to people's freedom of speech. He said:
"Everyone’s allowed to call you an a******e, everyone’s allowed to stop watching your stuff, everyone’s allowed to burn your DVDs, but you shouldn’t have to go to court for saying a joke that someone didn’t like.
"And that’s what we get dangerously close to. If you don’t agree to someone’s right to say something you don’t agree with, you don’t agree with freedom of speech."
Referencing a tweet he posted about former UK prime minister Winston Churchill, The Office creator then explained that people can do something that is "wrong" - but that doesn't make everything that they do "wrong".
Gervais said: "I did a tweet a month ago about freedom of speech, quoting Winston Churchill. Someone came back with, 'You know he was a white supremacist?' And I wrote back, 'Not in that tweet he isn’t'.
"It’s like if someone did something once that’s wrong, everything they did was wrong. ‘You are allowed to have things in common with bad people as long it’s not the bad things. I’m a vegetarian and I love dogs, like Hitler. But the only thing I have in common with Hitler are the good bits!"
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