Cancel culture’s widespread growth is affecting more than just celebrities.
By Celestina Gimino and Fitrah Amin
“It's very inherent in our culture, as Singaporeans, to complain about the slightest inconveniences. I understand that but my [teammates] are Indonesians, so they don’t really come across [cancel culture],” said Risa Natasha, owner of local thrift store, Thriftdump.
When the Indonesian entrepreneur opened her business in Singapore in December 2020, she never imagined she would be “cancelled”.
"Cancel culture is [the] trend or popular act of ostracising or withdrawing support [from] a public figure," said Yulia Safitri, an active social media user.
Cancel culture has been making its rounds on social media and is becoming increasingly prevalent in Singapore, hitting an all-time high in Google searches in July 2020, according to Google Trends.
“Especially now, when freedom of speech is more valued [by] Gen Z, [cancel culture] is more rampant,” said therapist Mrs Serena Lim.
Since the rise of cancel culture in Singapore last year, several local influencers have fallen victim to this phenomenon.
Dee Kosh, whose real name is Darryl Ian Koshy, was cancelled when Instagram user @_epaul accused him of sexual harassment in a series of posts uploaded to his Instagram story. This sparked a chain reaction of messages and screenshots uploaded on Twitter and Instagram by other alleged victims.
Police reports were filed against Dee Kosh, ultimately resulting in the DJ’s departure from Power 98FM, the termination of his engagements with Huawei and Lenovo, and the indefinite halt of his collaborations with YouTube channel, Night Owl Cinematics.
While cancel culture usually targets celebrities and influencers, its widespread growth means that even small, local businesses are no longer safe from its threatening effects.
Thriftdump is one of the most recent businesses to be cancelled. Earlier this year, they were struck with several controversies surrounding their product pricing and employee attitudes. Customers took to Instagram, Twitter and even Tiktok to voice their unhappiness about Thriftdump’s high product prices and poor customer service.
"They felt it was wrong for me to earn profit [from sales] because I have other trades that I'm doing. But they’re independent [of] Thriftdump so whatever profit Thriftdump earns, [it’s] purely for Thriftdump and not for me," said Risa.
In an attempt to do damage control, Thriftdump posted a series of Instagram stories to clear the air.
However, their attempts failed to curb the backlash and Risa eventually made the decision to cease the store’s operations as a last resort.
When it comes to the effectiveness of cancel culture in effecting change, the responses are split.
According to an online poll conducted by The Daily Scoop, 59% of 235 respondents believe that cancel culture is a necessary and effective nudge to help celebrities and companies realise the weight of their actions. On the other hand, the remaining 41% do not think that cancel culture is effective and it is ultimately up to the ones being cancelled to decide whether to change their ways.
“At the end of the day, once the hype dies down, life goes on for them. They’re still making money and getting brand deals. They can release an apology and still act the same way,” said Ashley Wong, an active social media user.
The common consensus regarding cancel culture remains that while it began with good intentions, has gotten out of hand.
“It can [even] be considered a form of cyberbullying if one is attacking. However, I have also seen responsible people who present their points in a coherent manner,” said Mrs Lim.
Risa adds that cancel culture has become focused on shaming public figures instead of giving them a chance to redeem themselves.
“Give them one to two years, there should be a change. I won't be like this in the next five years, I hope to be better,” said Risa.
Despite the controversy surrounding Thriftdump, Risa remains hopeful and aims to re-open the business in Indonesia.
"We felt demotivated to continue our projects in Singapore because it feels like people are full of criticisms and are sensitive with a lot of things. Even if we adapt to it, I feel like we are still gonna get backlash. So we either [adapt to the backlash] or withdraw from Singapore and find a better market for us,” said Risa.
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