Musician and actor Donald Glover went on a Twitter rant on Tuesday to his 2.5 million followers. In the only three posts available on his profile, as of this writing, Glover said films and TV shows put out by Hollywood today are “boring” since “people are afraid of getting cancelled.”
“saw people on here havin a discussion about how tired they were of reviewing boring stuff (tv & film),” said Glover.
“we’re getting boring stuff and not even experimental mistakes(?) because people are afraid of getting cancelled.”
“so they feel like they can only experiment w/ aesthetic. (also because some of em know theyre not that good).”
But what did he mean? Twitter went wild with speculation as users tried to figure out what exactly Glover was trying to communicate. Some are under the impression the artist was slamming destructive cancel culture, while other people think that by “cancelled,” Glover was referring to shows and movies being taken off the air. Glover’s intent isn’t entirely clear, but here are three possible interpretations of his tweets.
Cancel Culture
Some commentators believe Glover was slamming cancel culture, and given the hostile and woke climate today, especially in Hollywood, this seems like the no-brainer hypothesis.
There is evidently little room for dissent from leftist dogma in the entertainment industry, as the ousting of “The Mandalorian” actress Gina Carano demonstrated. Last week, award-winning writer and Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan discussed his experience being expelled from Hollywood for being conservative.
Cancel culture has infiltrated much of the film industry. The classic 1939 romance movie “Gone with the Wind” was removed from HBO’s library last summer after leftists said it was racist. The screenwriter for the movie “12 Years a Slave” wrote in the Los Angeles Times that “Gone with the Wind” “glorifies the antebellum south” and “perpetuate[s] some of the most painful stereotypes of people of color.”
In January, Disney Plus pulled the children’s films “Peter Pan,” “Dumbo,” “Aristocrats,” and others for kids under age 7. In a video allegedly obtained by Christopher Rufo of City Journal, Disney Executive Chairman Bob Iger said several classic children’s films are “racist content.” The corporation is now pushing critical race theory on employees.
Coming Off the Air
Other people think Glover’s tweets are referring to shows and movies being canceled and taken off the air due to creative risks. This view might be supported by his words in the second tweet, “we’re getting boring stuff and not even experimental mistakes (?),” plus the fact that Glover himself is woke.
His 2018 song “This is America” insinuated black men are getting gunned down in the streets at tremendous rates and that the United States is systemically racist. The experimental music video for the song won awards but was considered by many to be quite odd. Glover was recently sued for alleged copyright infringement by another rapper over the track. Glover, whose stage name is “Childish Gambino,” might think if artists are too progressive or experimental, networks won’t be receptive to their content.
Viewers Are Rubes
That leads us to the third possible interpretation. In his tweets, Glover might be trying to say conservative audiences are too ignorant to appreciate woke entertainment. If nobody wants to be berated with explicit leftist dogma in their entertainment, shows could get canceled for lack of audiences.
Consider the measly viewership of the Academy Awards this year. The show had a 58.3 percent drop in ratings from a year prior, and the films nominated, such as “Promising Young Woman,” and “The Trial of the Chicago 7,” were quite political. Over 70 percent of those surveyed by the Daily Wire in its Oscars poll last month said they agreed that “award winners should avoid making political speeches and comments while accepting their award,” which has become commonplace.
‘Boring Stuff’
Nobody knows exactly what Glover actually meant. While the entertainment climate makes the “cancel culture” explanation seem likely, Glover’s politics give pause. He’s been a major critic of former President Donald Trump, making headlines after Trump’s election when he said, “Thank God, one day Trump is gonna die.” At the 2017 Emmy Awards, Glover said in his acceptance speech, “I want to thank Trump for making black people number one on the most oppressed list.”
But Glover’s tweets — whether he intended them to be or not — were apt commentary on the state of entertainment and the casualties of cancel culture: Woke Hollywood is most certainly producing “boring stuff.”