Although it’s widely accepted among reasonable folks that “cancel culture” isn’t necessarily as dangerous as some people with big platforms have made it out to be, it does seem apparent that social media call-outs for problematic behavior have become the new de facto status quo. In a new interview with Sunday Times in the UK about his recent partnership with Puma, Jay-Z addressed the question of whether he foresees an end to the present state of affairs: No way.
“You can’t give someone a microphone for 24 hours a day and [have them] not think they have to use it!” he explained. However, he expressed sympathy for younger social media users who may not have the best grasp of the situations they’re being asked to address. “These kids, it’s unbelievable. Imagine having a microphone and you’re asked about social justice questions at 18 years old? It’s like, ‘What? I’m meant to know the answer, and if I don’t answer the correct way, if I don’t say everything right, even if my intentions are right, and I don’t say the same right thing, it’s going to be everywhere.’”
He doesn’t think he’d be on social media much, even if his rise had come along 20 years later. Meanwhile, he expressed his own views on some of the most pressing social issues being debated online. “As a human race we’re still on basic things,” he said. “We’re still on Stop Asian Hate. We can’t sit and cry over spilled milk, but we do have to acknowledge that there’s milk, right?… it’s very frustrating. Are we here today? No. Are we further than 50 years ago? Yes.”
You can read the full interview here.