c/cancel-culture-court

Changing my mind about that Kevin Hart apology from a few years back

I used to be in the camp that said his apology was fake and he was just trying to save his career. But then I watched that whole interview he did with Joe Rogan back in 2020, like the full 3 hour one not just clips. He went into detail about his old comedy routines and how he genuinely didn't realize how harmful those jokes were at the time. What got me was when he said he sat down with his daughter and had to explain why people were mad at daddy, and that moment made him actually reflect. I still think he handled it poorly at first with the whole not apologizing thing, but the way he talked about growing up in Philly with that old school comedy scene where you just roasted everybody without consequences made sense to me. It felt way more real than those PR statement apologies celebrities usually put out. Has anyone else changed their mind about a public figure after seeing a longer interview like that?

Hot take: that apology from the wellness influencer with the fake cancer story felt rehearsed

I met her at a coffee shop in Portland three years ago before all that came out and she brushed off a homeless guy asking for change with this cold look that told me more than any scripted YouTube video ever could, has anyone else noticed how people's small actions give away their real character?

That influencer apology with the shaky hands felt fake until I saw her old vlogs

There's this YouTuber named Sarah with 400k subs who posted a apology about faking a giveaway last year. First watch I thought the hand tremors and teary eyes were total acting. Then I dug up her old videos from 2021 and noticed she always had that shaky hand thing when she was stressed. Now I'm not sure if it's real or she just learned to fake it better over time. What do you guys think, does body language like that mean anything or is it all rehearsed?

Hot take: That $250 celeb apology tour ticket was a total scam

My friend keeps saying a celebrity's apology video was 'good enough' and it drives me nuts

I was at a barbecue last weekend and my friend Mike brought up that whole thing with the comedian who got in trouble for those old tweets. He said the guy's apology video was 'good enough' and we should all move on. But Mike didn't even watch the full 8 minute video. He just saw the headline. I watched the whole thing, and the guy spent the first 4 minutes talking about how hard his year has been and only said 'sorry' once, at the very end. It felt like he was just sorry he got caught. It matters because if we call that a real apology, we're setting the bar way too low for people with big platforms. They need to show they actually get why what they did was wrong, not just that they're upset about the backlash. How do you judge if an apology is real or just damage control?

I was at a small music festival in Nashville last summer when a headliner got booed off stage

It was the second night of the festival, and this indie folk singer was about to play. Right before her set, someone in the crowd started yelling about old tweets she'd made that were really mean. It spread fast. People started holding up their phones with screenshots. She tried to start her song, but the boos got louder. She stopped, said 'I'm sorry if anyone was hurt,' and then just left. The apology felt rushed, like she just wanted the noise to stop. It wasn't about the people she hurt. The whole vibe of the festival changed after that. Everyone was just tense and looking at each other sideways. It made me really think about how a bad apology can make things worse, not better. Has anyone else seen a public apology backfire in person like that?

A musician's apology on a late night show made me think twice

I used to think any public apology was just damage control, especially after that singer's 2019 scandal. But I saw a clip from The Tonight Show last week where he talked about the work he's done with a youth music program in Detroit for three years now. He didn't just say sorry, he showed the receipts. Has anyone else had their mind changed by seeing a celebrity actually follow through?

Remember when a bad joke could just be a bad joke?

I was cleaning out an old box and found a DVD of a stand-up special from 2005. The comic said some stuff that would absolutely get him roasted today. I watched it with my roommate and we just sat there quiet for a minute after. It's wild how the line for what's okay has moved so much. Has anyone else had a moment like that with old media?

I totally wrote off that influencer's apology video as fake until I saw the receipts

I mean, when that lifestyle vlogger from Austin posted her 'I've changed' video after the old tweets surfaced, I rolled my eyes. It felt super scripted. But then she actually donated 50k to the local LGBTQ+ center she'd made fun of and posted the bank transfer confirmation. Now I'm not sure if it's real growth or just good PR. Has anyone else had an apology they thought was fake turn out to be backed by real action?

A conversation with my cousin about that comedian's old tweets changed my view

We were at a family barbecue in Phoenix last summer, just grabbing drinks from the cooler. He said, 'I don't get why people are still mad, he said sorry like five years ago.' I told him the apology felt rushed and the guy just wanted his tour to sell. My cousin shrugged and said, 'People change, man. Holding onto old stuff forever is pointless.' It made me really think about where the line is between giving someone a real second chance and just letting them off the hook. How do you decide when an apology is enough to move on?

Remember when a celebrity messing up just meant a weird interview on Letterman? I was thinking about that singer from the early 2000s who got caught saying something awful at a club in Austin.

Watching that chef's apology video from my kitchen in Seattle made me think about second chances

So last week, I was making dinner and had that whole mess with Chef Marco Rossi playing on my phone. You know, the guy who got called out for those awful comments he made on a podcast like five years ago. His new apology video was all over my feed. I watched it while my onions were caramelizing, and I noticed something. He didn't just say 'sorry' this time. He named the specific podcast, the date, and even quoted his own bad joke, which took guts. He then laid out a plan to fund a scholarship at a local culinary school for underprivileged kids, putting $50,000 of his own money down first. It felt less like damage control and more like he actually listened to the criticism. In my experience, when someone gets that granular, it shows they've done the work. But I'm just one person watching a screen. What do you all think? Does naming the exact mistake and putting real money behind change make an apology feel real, or is it just better PR?

I thought that actor's apology video was just PR spin, but then I saw the receipts

When that big actor got called out for those old tweets, I rolled my eyes at his apology video last month. It felt like the usual scripted damage control. But then a fan dug up that he'd quietly donated $50,000 to a related charity six months before the scandal even broke. That changed my view completely. It showed he was putting in real work before he got caught, not just after. It made me think maybe some apologies come from a real place of change. Has anyone else had a case where the follow-up actions made you believe a public figure was actually sorry?

I watched that old interview where the comedian said something awful about 10 years back.

His new apology felt like he was just reading a script his manager wrote. Does a forced 'sorry' ever really count?

I thought that singer's apology video was just PR, but then I saw him volunteer at the same food bank as me for 6 months straight.

Saw a guy at a coffee shop in Austin argue that some apologies are just PR moves

He was talking about a musician's statement and said, 'If you have to hire a crisis firm to write it, it's not real.' It stuck with me because he pointed out the specific firm's name. When does an apology stop being personal and start being a business transaction?

I counted 17 apologies from the same actor in a single year

I was reading an article about that actor who keeps getting in trouble, and I decided to tally up all his public statements. Over the last 12 months, he's put out 17 separate apologies for different old tweets and interviews. The thing is, after the 5th or 6th one, they all started to sound exactly the same, like he was just reading a script his publicist wrote. It made me wonder if he even understands why people were upset, or if he's just trying to check a box. Has anyone else noticed a public figure where the apology count got so high it lost all meaning?

A guy at a bar in Cincinnati changed my mind about that comedian's apology

He pointed out the guy donated his whole tour fee from that year, over two million dollars, to the groups he'd offended. Everyone online was calling it fake, but that's a real cost, not just words. Does the money actually matter more than the statement?

Watching that actor's apology tour after his old tweets resurfaced

I saw his first statement, which felt super defensive and lawyer-written, then six months later he did a long interview where he actually named specific people he hurt. The shift seemed to come after he quietly started working with a group that helps victims, not just his PR team. Do you think that kind of behind-the-scenes action makes an apology real, or is it still just damage control?

A talk with my sister made me rethink a comedian's old tweets

We were driving to our mom's place in Phoenix last month, and she brought up that comic who got in trouble for his jokes from 2010. I said he should just be done for good. She asked me, 'Have you watched his apology video from two years ago, the full 8 minutes?' I hadn't. She made me watch it that night. He named specific people he hurt and showed the charity work he started, not just said sorry. It felt different from a written statement. Has anyone else had a moment where a full apology video changed their mind?

Watching that old interview from 2012 really shifted my view on apologies

I saw a clip of a musician getting grilled about some bad tweets he made a decade ago, and his apology felt super scripted, like his manager wrote it. Then I watched a different interview from just last year where he brought it up himself, explained what he learned, and didn't make excuses, which felt way more real. How do you guys tell when someone's actually grown from their old mistakes versus just doing damage control?

I looked up the actual timeline on that comedian's old tweets everyone is mad about

I was reading a long article about the whole thing on a news site, and they included the dates. The tweets people are calling 'recent' were from 2011. That's over a decade ago. The apology video everyone is picking apart came out in 2019, after he had already stopped doing that kind of material for years. It feels like the court of public opinion is judging the 2019 apology based on 2024 standards, ignoring the years of changed behavior in between. Has anyone else looked at the actual timeline and felt the reaction is disconnected from it?

I thought that singer's apology video was just PR spin...

I saw the clip from 2012 where he said some really bad stuff, and his new apology felt too clean, like his team wrote it. But then I found a podcast from a few months ago where he talked about working with a group from the community he hurt, and he named specific people and projects. That detail made it feel real, not just a statement. Has anyone else had an apology they doubted turn out to be okay?

I looked up the actual numbers on that comedian's old tour...

Everyone's saying his apology video was fake because he's just trying to save his career. I got curious and checked the ticket sales data from 2012 on a concert stats site. His tour that year only sold about 40% of its seats in most cities... he wasn't even that big back then when he said those awful things. It makes me think maybe he really has changed, because he wasn't some huge star protecting an image. Has anyone else dug into the history like that before deciding if an apology is real?

I was sure that actor's apology for his old tweets was just PR, but then I saw him volunteer at the youth center in my city for six months straight.