TikTok stars Noah Beck and Griffin Johnson are taking heat from critics due to their divisive comments on “cancel culture,” as told during an episode of Johnson’s “Sway Way” podcast.
Also known as “call-out culture,” the term “cancel culture” has become a popular phrase in the past few years as social media has flourished, allowing users to highlight abuse, bad behavior, or other negative actions from people online.
When these bad behaviors are brought to light, the person responsible is usually called out, boycotted and ostracized, causing them to be publicly shamed and often ousted from their professional and social circles due to the resulting backlash.
“Cancel culture” itself is a divisive term, with many believing that it outright doesn’t exist, as those being “canceled” deserve to be called out for their actions and that those who are “canceled” are never truly brought to justice from the outrage.
Still, others feel that “cancel culture” is going too far and is resulting in a toxic online environment — but either way, people are no longer willing to abide bad behavior from anyone, and social media has given users a platform to speak up against things they consider to be unjust.
TikTokers and Sway House members Griffin Johnson and Noah Beck recently spoke out on the social phenomenon during an episode of the Sway Way podcast — and their thoughts on the subject have sparked quite a bit of backlash against them.
“People are getting canceled for things that were totally acceptable,” Beck said. “I don’t want to say that people have gotten really sensitive, but at the same time, they have, and it’s like… there were some things that were acceptable back then that people could say, now it comes back on them five, 10 years later.”
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#noahbeck also speaks on people getting canceled for things that were acceptable in the past
“I mean, I’ve done some things in my past where they come off as controversial today, but they weren’t that deep,” Beck continued, referencing his own controversial history on social media. “I can see why people think it’s a big deal now, but it’s like… I never thought I would have this platform. I never thought I would have this stage. I was growing up just playing soccer. I liked a few tweets, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time.”
Needless to say, both Beck and Johnson have received a substantial amount of criticism from listeners, with one user writing: “He really said that he never thought he would have gotten famous… so if you’re not famous, you can be homophobic and it’s not a big deal?”
Both boys have yet to speak out on the outrage, which only continues to grow in wake of their already storied history of sparking division among TikTok viewers.
