Goldie Hawn has a few things to say about cancel culture.
The 77-year-old speaks to Variety about her thoughts on today’s society cancelling certain people, telling the mag: “I think that it’s important to stand vigilant on people’s behaviour and really understand when they’re out of line and be able to handle it.
“But I’m concerned about these areas: Suddenly you don’t have a job. Suddenly you can’t date a woman within the business or you’re going to get fired. They’re cancelling books — classic books that no one can read. I don’t like that. There’s mistrust everywhere.
“So not only is there cancel culture, but there are culture wars. Schools are being politicized. But for the greater good of our children? No one’s really looking at that.”
The actress continues, “There’s a disruption now. Disruptions are good. But imbalance isn’t. I hope to get back to some level of sensibility and fairness. So ‘cancel culture.’ The word itself scares me more than anything. It’s rigid, concretized thinking, which is not good. It’s got double edges on it. And who has the right to cancel?”
Not ending her comments there, Hawn also speaks about comedians not being able to approach certain topics these days.
She continues, “The level of sensitivity is so high that comedians are afraid to tell certain jokes the way they used to. And it’s a bit of a quandary for comedians; there are things you can’t say and so on and so forth. I mean, it’s fine. There are certain areas that I agree with. But the level of sensitivity is unforgiving. That’s not a good feeling when you’re in a creative mode.”
Elsewhere in the chat, Hawn discusses that 2022 Oscars moment where Will Smith stormed the stage to slap Chris Rock for making a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s alopecia.
“It’s indicative of our culture right now,” Hawn tells the publication.
“I mean, you could look at it and say, ‘What the hell just happened?’ Somebody lost control. They lost their self-regulation. Their bigger brain wasn’t thinking, and they did something that was horrendous and also showed no remorse.
“That, to me, is a microcosm oftentimes of our world. Chris was brilliant — totally held on to and controlled his emotions, was able to stand with dignity. That’s an example of what we would like our world to look like. But, unfortunately, it isn’t right now.”
