Cancel culture, call-out culture, hashtag activism, clicktivism … are all names for how people are publicly shamed by social media mobs. This can lead to damaging their careers and reputations.
Call-outs can be effective at bringing the wrongs committed by public figures to light. It worked to create public awareness about the serious sexual misconduct of R. Kelly, Harvey Weinstein, and Bill O'Reilly.
But it has also made pariahs out of people who did something good but were found to have some skeletons in their social media closet.
The fear of being cancelled can also have a chilling effect on speech in which people are afraid to say anything that is controversial or nuanced that may provoke the Twitter mob.
Former president Barack Obama leveled a pointed critique at those who attempt to shame people online on Tuesday at the Obama Foundation Summit in Chicago.
"This idea of purity and you're never compromised, and you're always politically 'woke,' and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly," he said.
"The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws," he said.
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He added: "I do get a sense sometimes now among certain young people, and this is accelerated by social media, that the way of me making change is to be as judgmental as possible about other people and that's enough."
Obama believes that call-out culture can sometimes just be an act of collective self-righteousness.
"If I tweet or hashtag about how you didn't do something right or used the wrong verb, I can sit back and feel pretty good about myself, see how woke I was, I called you out," said Obama, criticizing this way of thinking.
"That's not activism. That's not being about change. If all you're doing is casting stones, you're probably not going to get that far."
It's all of our jobs to bring serious wrongdoings by those in the public eye to light. But we should be leery of developing a culture in which we pick up pitchforks because someone said something that isn't 100% woke.
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We should probably stay away from digging around in tweets that people made as a teenager in order to score a "gotcha" moment. And give a little more credence to how people behave in real life versus what they post on social media.
And, as Obama said, we should never confuse being part of a digital online mob with doing the real work to create social change.
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Ketel Marte was brought to tears during an MLB game after facing a shameful fan taunt.
Baseball manager's poignant support for a player brought to tears after shameful fan taunt
Whether they’re expecting perfection from their favorite players or, worse, behaving callously toward opposing teams, sports fans often forget that athletes are human beings. But athletic competition has the ability to unify and uplift, even amid such painful and unpleasant encounters. Take, for example, a major-league baseball game held June 24, 2025 between the home team Chicago White Sox and visiting Arizona Diamondbacks.
A shameful low point occurred when Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte was at bat in the seventh inning. Per ESPN, a fan reportedly yelled out a comment regarding Marte’s late mother, Elpidia Valdez, who died in a 2017 car accident in the Dominican Republic. Team personnel, including manager Torey Lovullo, then requested the 22-year-old fan be ejected. (Though he was remorseful and admitted his actions were inappropriate, according to an ESPN source, he was nonetheless banned indefinitely from all MLB ballparks.) "We commend the White Sox for taking immediate action in removing the fan," the MLB said in a statement. Marte reportedly declined to comment.
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While the fan’s behavior is inexcusable, it did spark a powerful and inspiring moment. After hearing the comment, Marte was visibly upset, prompting Lovullo to walk on the field, put his arm around him, and offer some words of encouragement. "[I said,] 'I love you, and I’m with you, and we’re all together, and you’re not alone,'" Lovullo said in a post-game interview, as documented by The Rich Eisen Show. "'No matter what happens, no matter what was said or what you’re heard, that guy is an idiot.’"
According to Arizona Republic, Lovullo heard the fan’s comment but didn’t want to repeat it. “I looked right at [Marte] when I heard,” he said. “I looked right at him, and he looked at the person, as well. He put his head down and I could tell it had an immediate impact on him, for sure."
Elsewhere in the post-game interview, the manager called the moment "terrible" and reflected on why he stood up for Marte. "Fans are nasty, and fans go too far sometimes," he said. "I love my players, and I’m gonna protect them…I’ve known Ketel for nine years. He’s had some unbelievably great moments and some hardships as well and some really tough moments in his life. I know those. At the end of the day, we’re human beings, and we have emotions. I saw him hurting, and I wanted to protect him."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com
The following day, the Chicago White Sox X account sent out a message in support of Marte, writing, "We’re with you" and "Baseball is family." On The Rich Eisen Show, the show's host addressed the need to eradicate this kind of toxic athlete-fan interaction: "I was hearing [people saying], 'There’s no place for this in major league baseball.' There isn’t. There’s no place for this in our society. I understand that people are saying the MLB has got to do something about this. Fans have a right to heckle players—this is something that has happened forever…But there is a line."
In another recent, depressing sports moment with a beautiful coda, let’s look to Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Indiana Pacers and the eventual champions, the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the first quarter, Pacers point guard Tyrese Haliburton tore his right Achilles tendon—a devastating injury that could potentially sideline him for most of the 2025-2026 season. Following the game, in a lovely display of sportsmanship, Thunder point-guard and league MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander went to the Pacers locker room to check on his competitor. In a press conference, he said, "You just hate to see it, in sports in general. But in this moment, my heart dropped for him. I can't imagine playing the biggest game of my life and something like that happening. It’s so unfortunate."
- YouTubewww.youtube.com