Cory Morgan: Upcoming Court Case Could Put a Heavy Chill on the Practice of Cancel Culture

Commentary

In March 2019, Caylan Ford was considered a star candidate for the United Conservative Party in Alberta as the NDP government under Rachel Notley called a general election. Despite her young age, Ford had a formidable resumé, including a master’s degree from Oxford University and a record of employment with the Canadian foreign ministry as an international affairs specialist. As a young, accomplished woman, she tempered the list of UCP candidates, which was predominantly conservative men.

Before the end of that month, however, Ford was abruptly forced to resign as a candidate and became a political pariah. She had been struck by cancel culture, and there was no recovering politically.

An anonymous source had taken snippets out of context from private Facebook conversations and fed them to an assortment of media outlets. The conversations were used to falsely label Ford as a white supremacist, and she was condemned as such by pundits and politicos alike.

The cancel mob was incensed, and Ford had no way to defend herself. Only one news outlet gave her a chance to explain herself, and that radio station became a target of the mob for platforming her. They started a petition demanding that the interview be removed from the radio archives, and the station complied. The host of that lone interview was Danielle Smith, who later cited that event as a prime reason why she resigned from her role in the media. She is now the premier of Alberta.

A judge ruled in 2023 that the anonymous source who sparked the mobs was “untrustworthy,” with motives based on “jealousy and spite,” and placed a permanent restraining order against him. This was years after the fact, though, and the damage had been done. Like so many victims of cancel culture, Caylan Ford was left ravaged, unemployable, and dejected. Her former political allies had abandoned her, and her career prospects were bleak.

Ford subsequently launched a lawsuit against the people and media outlets that she felt had defamed her.

The lawsuit isn’t a small one. When the claims are added up, Ford is seeking $7.65 million. She has already seen some success as some defendants have settled out of court, and one ruling has compelled a defendant to pay for some of her legal costs. The full trial is set to begin on March 2 and is expected to take 70 days. It has taken nearly seven years for Ford to get her day in court, and if the court rules in her favour, it will set a precedent that could put a heavy chill upon future cancel culture efforts.

Part of why some media outlets and public personalities have run with cancel mob allegations without thought is that they rarely faced consequences for their actions. They have large legal resources and are prepared to wait out efforts by victims seeking legal recourse. But things could be different this time.

Social media has created a type of minefield for public personas that didn’t exist before. Statements made years before, which were innocuous or no longer reflect the point of view of a person, can be dug up, and a form of public lynch mob can be created within hours. Whether in witch hunts of old or more contemporary cancellation situations, there seems to be an instinct among some people to join such mobs and zealously attack victims with no regard to the damage caused. Sadly, those individuals will never go away. If institutions and people of high public profile find themselves facing serious legal consequences, however, it will defuse the strength of cancel mobs.

We live in a reactive world where developing events and news travel much faster than fact-checkers can keep up with. It has left a wake of victims behind at times. The courts may finally be putting a check on that.

Public appetite for cancellation appears to be waning as well. Canadian icon Don Cherry was drummed out of his job and most public life due to one sentence he uttered in a broadcast. Despite a career that spanned decades, Cherry was ruthlessly attacked, and it must have been crushing for him. While the powers that be still refuse to offer Cherry the Order of Canada, the government of Ontario has given him the Order of Ontario, and citizens are applauding it. Hopefully, he gets the national recognition he deserves while he is still alive to appreciate it.

Cancel culture has always been around, and it exposes one of the ugliest sides of human nature. Modern communication tools have allowed that culture to blossom into a force ruining countless careers over the pettiest of alleged offences. Let’s hope Ford’s case serves as a lesson for real change this time.

Free speech and a free press are essential rights, but like any rights, they come with responsibilities.

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.