Bill Pumpkin
I have listened to all 33 episodes of Bill Pumpkin’s podcast explaining the story of his new concept album. I’m not going to be weighing in on the album itself, though.
Probably the one take-away I’ve gotten from listening to all 33 episodes, is that he sure has bought into the whole “Cancel Culture” bullshit a certain political cohort is always complaining about. The whole “You can’t say anything anymore,” drivel that goes along with calling people “woke” and complaining that you can’t make jokes anymore because all the punchlines to the jokes they want to tell are misogynistic, homophobic, ableist, and racist.
Because if you really “Can’t say anything anymore,” what is it you Really wanna say?…
So in the interest of understanding Bill Pumpkin’s point of view, let’s take a look at who has actually been “cancelled” for what they’ve said?
Ye West said:
A bunch of antisemitic things on social media and in interviews. Also insinuated that America’s chattel enslavement of humans might have been a choice on the part of the enslaved Blacks.
How was he “cancelled”?:
He was suspended from Twitter and Instagram. Dropped from his talent agency. Adidas withdrew from their partnership with him. His wax figure was also removed from Madame Tussauds.
Aftermath:
According to Forbes, he’s no longer a billionaire, just a lowly multimillionaire. He was reinstated on Instagram earlier in 2023, but has deactivated his account. He has not been attending to his mental health properly ever since his mother died in 2007, and that has probably exacerbated his behavior, but does not excuse it.
Gina Carano said:
That Republicans face the same persecution that Nazi Germany had committed, as well as transphobic remarks.
How was she “cancelled”?:
She was fired from roles in a couple Star Wars Disney+ series. Her talent agency dropped her.
Aftermath:
She directed a film produced by Ben Shapiro in 2022 that conservatives labeled as “Too Woke.” Her father still owns over 50 casinos.
Dave Chappelle said:
A bunch of anti-trans stuff as part of his standup acts.
How was he “cancelled”?:
A total of One of his standup shows was cancelled by the venue in 2022.
Aftermath:
He hosted Saturday Night Live in 2022, and followed that up with a Grammy win in 2023 for his standup comedy album The Closer which was a part of his $60 million deal with Netflix to produce 3 specials. He is also still touring.
Kevin Hart said:
Homophobic jokes about his children in a standup act.
How was he “cancelled”?:
He stepped down from hosting the 2019 Academy Awards, and released a Netflix documentary series he was making that coincided with the incident.
Aftermath:
He has consistently acted and produced various films and television project. He is currently on tour with his standup with tickets on sale for about $50-$1000.
Rosanne Barr said:
Antisemitic conspiracy theory related stuff leading up to a racist joke on social media.
How was she “cancelled”?:
She was fired from the revival series of her sitcom Roseanne.
Aftermath:
She released a standup special and documentary about the incident on the Fox Nation channel.
Justine Sacco said:
She’s the person that Tweeted: “Going to Africa. Hope I don’t get AIDS. Just kidding, I’m white!”
How was she “cancelled”?:
She made that “joke” just before she got on an 11 hour flight, and by the time she landed, she was fired from InterActive Corp (IAC), where she was senior director of corporate communications.
Aftermath:
Her story was featured in the book So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed by Jon Ronson. She also worked for FanDuel as Director of Communications before being promoted to VP of Communications. Then left that company to become VP of Communications for Match Group, a company that spun-off of IAC which still owns about 80 percent of Match Group.
I understand where the sentiment comes from of allowing everyone to have their say. Freedom Of Speech and all, y’know? Yet, some people are going to find things offensive, while others are not. In the 90s, the whole “Damn The Man” nostalgia came back, courtesy of older Gen Xers whose parents came of age in the 60s. Our younger generation was tired of having to listen and look-up to hypocrites. We were a generation coming to the conclusion that maybe we didn’t have the best parents.
So why not try to shake things up and change the world? Be shocking. Ruffle some feathers. Be subversive. Let your freak flag fly!Sarcasm ruled the day, and if you were too sensitive or couldn’t hang with the big boys, you were called a homophobic or misogynistic slur. But it was okay, because they just said those words, they weren’t really homophobic or hated women. And this was, of course, at the dawn of the internet, when no one could tell if you were being ironic or sarcastic over text. And when you don’t know someone’s intent, all you have to go off of is what they say and do.
As Bill got toward the end of his run of episodes, he started moving away from the subject of Cancel Culture and onto Bullying. I don’t know if it was because he viewed calling people out for doing shit you don’t want to see in society as Bullying, or because there are some fans in the community that have been bullied by other fans. Jocelyn Walters. Mone’t Ha-Sidi. Corrine Luxon. All you have to do is look through certain Smashing Pumpkins fan communities or social media comments, and you’ll see people who — just because they exist, and weren’t fans when the band first came out, or don’t look like a typical white, sad-boy fan — are attacked and made to feel less-than.
And I know that in every group there are dumbasses, and you can’t really control who becomes a fan of your music or whatever you produce. But it does make me wonder, if there is something in the way that Bill has presented himself — in his public persona — that has attracted these particular kind of people? I don’t know. Maybe if someone is doing or saying things that could hurt other people, someone could, like, speak out against it? If someone has aligned themselves with you, and they start to act the fool, wouldn’t you try to distance yourself from them to show you don’t co-sign or condone their sentiments?
But then again, you wouldn’t want to do that, because then you’d be cancelling them, right Bill?
-bcp
But I think it’s actually good…? Like, the best since Zeitgeist. And I don’t think I was that high while I was listening to it.
In Bill’s case, this is extremely true, and probably explains a lot of why he reacts the way he does