Recently, Netflix star, Kit Connor, was in a little bit of controversy. Supposed fans of the show Heartstopper accused the actor of queerbaiting because of his portrayal of a queer character in the show but not being a publicly queer person. After a lot of discourse online, the actor came out on Twitter saying, “back for a minute. i’m bi. congrats for forcing an 18 year old to out himself. i think some of you missed the point of the show. bye.” It is clear that Connor felt the need to out himself rather than be “canceled” for queerbaiting.
First of all, I want to make it clear that a human being cannot queerbait. Queerbaiting is a term used to describe situations in fictional stories in which a character exhibits queer traits or a same sex couple is close but the character or characters are never confirmed as queer. It is often used as a tactic to entice queer viewers into watching a show or reading a book. Therefore, a person cannot queerbait because sexuality is a spectrum and people can represent themselves in whatever way they want. Self-expression can take any form and just because a person “acts queer” or exhibits some sort of stereotypical queer trait does not mean that they are queer. You cannot get mad at someone for being themselves and expressing themselves how they choose.
Unfortunately, Kit Connor is not the only celebrity who has had to deal with this issue. Harry Styles and Taylor Swift have also been accused of queerbaiting for exhibiting some sort of queerness without ever confirming that they are queer or not. I think that this is a huge issue with internet culture and it leads into the idea of cancel culture. Cancel culture is a modern idea in which large groups of people revoke support for a celebrity and advocate for others to do the same because of some horrible thing that they did. Cancelations range from “queerbaiting” or not posting a memorial post for a coworker who passed away on social media (Elizabeth Olsen) to sexual assault cases or extreme racism. Cancelation can and will end careers for celebrities. In some cases that is not such a bad thing (look to Shane Dawson or Kanye West) and in others it’s sad (like Winona Ryder who was canceled and blacklisted after shoplifting).
So what’s the big problem with cancel culture? Shouldn’t people be held accountable for their actions?
Yes, people should be held accountable for mistakes, but I think people have to remember that that is what they are—mistakes. Most people have made bad decisions in the past that they regret, I know I have, but that doesn’t mean that they deserve to have their career ended. People learn and grow from mistakes and become better people. You have to give people a chance to breathe and explain the situation. It seems like, in most cases, people cancel a celebrity and don’t want to hear an explanation. It scares people off the internet, like in Connor’s case, and forces people in the public eye to walk on eggshells throughout their life.
I believe that canceling is a very toxic part of internet culture and not necessarily a step in the right direction. I understand where people are coming from when canceling a celebrity, but I think that rather than immediately cancelling and ignoring the celebrity we should open up a conversation with them. It’s good to bring problematic things into the light and voice your concerns for how a celebrity might be acting. In cases like Kit Connor or with other young celebrities, we also need to remember that they are kids. Our brains don’t fully develop until our mid-twenties, and we should take the fact that they are young into account. We’ve all done regrettable things as teenagers, so we should remember that people in the public eye are no different.