It was the year 2015 when the paparazzi set an objective: to find Anna Allen. At that time, the actress, whom the public knew as Marta Altamira, Toni Alcantara's girlfriend, in Tell me how it happened, had become the most wanted woman in Spain and no one knew her whereabouts. The reason for such brazen persecution? He had invented a life of success and awards in Hollywood and the lie had come to light. Years later, the Javises recreated the consequences of this story in their Paquita Salas series. Isolation, public ridicule and the back of an industry and a public that refused for a long time to forgive lies.
Something similar happened to Pol Granch, but for very different reasons. The singer and protagonist of the Elite series wrote several homophobic comments on his social networks that unleashed the fury of his followers. It is not the only controversy in which he has been involved in recent years, as he also ridiculed her ex-girlfriend, the former triumphant Natalia Lacunza, during a concert, imitating her in a mocking way. “It's fucking hard to think about whether or not I can go to a festival in case they're going to throw things at me. It has happened to me a lot. People have come to my house to insult me and my pregnant sister came to wish the death of her baby. I had to leave Madrid. But well, I turn the page and in this I do want to be an example and help people who are going through the same thing, ”he explained to La Vanguardia.
Although both are retracing their careers, - Allen returned to television and Granch, in addition to publishing a new album, was nominated for the Latin Grammy -, both have experienced first-hand the culture of cancellation, also known as movement or philosophy 'woke'. “Many concerts were canceled for me,” reveals the singer.
The word 'woke', which originally means 'awake' in English, currently has another meaning: “It is a cultural protest movement against inequalities, social or gender injustices, racism or criticism for disagreeing with something. The most direct consequence is the cancellation, which we could actually call the emancipation of the audiences. Thousands of people whose parents did not have access to studies now have the training and the means at their disposal not only to give their opinion on any work of art or public discourse, but also to come together and send their opinion to the author”, explains Gonzalo Torné. , author of the essay The cancellation and its enemies (Anagram).
To all this, the sociologist and director of the master's degree in cultural management at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), Alba Colombo, adds that "although this type of manifestation has always existed in one way or another, it must be said that in recent years have increased, especially after the anti-racist movement Black Lives Matter and MeToo”. As a result of the latter we find cases such as that of Plácido Domingo. The Spanish tenor shook the world of opera after the testimony of several women who accused him of sexual harassment and abuse of power in the workplace came to light. When the news broke out, a large part of the theaters in which he had planned to sing canceled his performances.
The same thing happened with many Russian artists when the war in Ukraine began, who saw how all their projects vanished because of their nationality. Most were forced to position themselves against Putin in order to continue working abroad, but some, like the Russian dancer Sergei Polunin, not only refused but defended the president. The Arcimboldi Theater in Milan, in response, canceled his ballet show last Christmas Eve. Several were also those who were forced to temporarily withdraw from the stage, such as the soprano Anna Netrebko, who had to sing for the 175th anniversary of the Liceu but she ended up taking a step next to her.
Literature is not exempt from the woke movement either. Víctor Obiols lived it in his flesh, who was commissioned with the Catalan translation of the poem The hill we climb, which its author, the American Amanda Gorman, recited at the inauguration of Joe Biden. The controversy broke out when the poet's agents asked her to translate for "a woman, activist and preferably black." Obiols recalls what happened to La Vanguardia, as well as how “surreal the situation was. I have been an advocate for these causes for many years but I think he misapplied himself and I was judged not because of my work but because I am a white western man”. In any case, she recalls, “Gorman ended up unmarking. Of course, the Catalan translation, although I received it, never saw the light of day and I did not obtain any official explanation, ”she laments.
Returning to the cinematographic field, it is impossible not to name Willy Toledo. The firmness with which the actor always defends his political ideas has not always benefited him in his career, to the point that they have stopped counting on him in some productions. In recent years, the interpreter has attended demonstrations in favor of ETA prisoners, has charged against the security forces and has attacked celebrities who have resorted to surrogacy. Added to this is the fact that he was tried for a crime against religious feelings, of which he was acquitted, for shitting on God and the Virgin Mary.
In the theater, Joel Joan suffered the consequences of some of his public manifestations. Badalona canceled one of his works after the actor charged a bar for having his letter exclusively in Spanish. It did not help either that some time later he recorded himself drunk on a boat on his social networks. The protagonist of Plats Bruts denounced censorship at the time and divided social networks, since they supported and criticized him in equal parts.
Carolina Iglesias and Victoria Martín, creators of the Etirando el chicle podcast, were involved in another controversy, after the followers of the program exploded on Twitter for having invited Patricia Sornosa, who starred in a transphobic speech. Both were forced to publicly apologize to the wave of haters that they still denounce today and fearing that some of their shows throughout Spain, which included a stop at the WiZink Center in Madrid, could be cancelled.
Unlike the other cultural areas, museums, although they are not exempt from the culture of cancellation, are perhaps the ones with the fewest examples. "They are rather rigid institutions that have a hard time canceling an exhibition or delving into any debate," reflects Maria Llopis. The Valencian artist and her students burst into the Picasso Museum in Barcelona with t-shirts that read slogans such as 'Picasso Barba Azul', 'Picasso, the shadow of Dora Maar' or 'Picasso is Antonio David Flores'. The objective was "to denounce the lack of political awareness on the part of the museum with the fact that Picasso was an abuser." Llopis concludes that "although we fulfilled what we wanted, which was to make this facet of the painter known, I must say that I have felt the consequences of my action more than the Picasso Museum itself, since they ended up with a project that I had online".
However, the exhibition dedicated to the work of the French cartoonist Bastien Vivès at the Angoulême festival next January has been cancelled, for supposedly glorifying some of his works (Los melones de la cólera, Petit Paul or La mental discharge) “pedophilia, incest and rape”, in the words of his detractors, who came together in networks to join forces and get them to cancel the show.
Lack of freedom of expression? Some may ask. Torné recalls that “this is guaranteed and limited by law. Those who criticize the existence of a cancellation culture tend to want to reduce freedom of expression by intimidating criticism and the free play of opinions that arises from the network. Cancel culture is not only fair, but also beneficial. All public speech is susceptible to being evaluated in public. Whoever cannot bear the judgments about his work or his public performance can always keep quiet ”, he concludes
