Cancel culture has made me cowardly, says Dawn
DAWN FRENCH has said cancel culture forces people into a corner where they choose to be cowards rather than say what they believe.
‘I genuinely think we’re being forced into corners where I can smell my own cowardice,’ the Vicar Of Dibley star said on the Happy Place podcast.
‘I don’t like that – I’ve never been cowardly, I hope.
‘But I’m starting to be that because I’m being circumspect about what I will support or not in case it causes trouble.’
She continued: ‘As women, especially, the last thing we should do is shut up.
‘We shouldn’t be back in the corner, and yet I am in the corner, and I really dislike it about myself and about this cultural malaise.
‘I am a massive advocate of robust debate that might change your mind – that’s the best thing in the world.
‘But it’s impossible if what we’ve got to do is hunker back into our positions, defend them by spitting and being furious, and then blaming and cancelling.’
The 66- year- old comedian added: ‘We’re all talking about inclusivity and favouring difference and all the rest of it.
‘And that’s all great, I love the idea of that, but that’s not how we’re living.
‘We’re living the opposite of that – we’re massively intolerant, quick to blame, litigation, trolling, and all of this dreadful stuff which has got nothing to do with understanding how other human beings operate.
‘It’s awful. How has it happened? How have people given their lives so we could vote, done so many things to push forward, and now we’re in this place.
‘It’s ludicrous. I don’t know how to unpick it.’
Ms French also revealed that she was recently told to ‘catch up’ in the trans controversy surrounding JK Rowling. She said she had recently done a podcast with somebody who told her after the recording that they weren’t talking about JK Rowling.
Ms French said: ‘And I went, “Oh, OK”, because I know JK a bit. And she said, “Yeah, because she used this terminology and we’re not doing that, it’s unacceptable”. I said, “Oh, oh, I don’t even know that term. What is that?” And she went, “You need to catch up, Dawn”.’
The star also said that it was ‘very powerful’ to be able to use the phrase ‘I don’t know’.