Davina McCalls says it is ‘weird to haul someone over hot coals’ over a tweet they wrote ten years ago and blames a lack of forgiveness from society… as she weighs in on cancel culture
Davina McCall has weighed in on cancel culture and claimed it is ‘weird’ to haul someone over hot coals due something they said a decade ago.
The TV presenter, 54, said that anyone in the spotlight is ‘terrified’ of being cancelled but believes that the problem is due to a lack of forgiveness from the public.
Davina, who appeared on Rylan Clark’s podcast Ry-Union, was asked about cancel culture and society’s lack of forgiveness by the host.
Opinion: Davina McCall has weighed in on cancel culture and claimed it is ‘weird’ to haul someone over hot coals over something they said a decade ago
The former Big Brother host, said: ‘It’s difficult in a different way. Everybody has an opinion. With cancel culture, and this is the new thing that I think celebrities or actors or anybody in the public eye is the most terrified of is this culture of, you say something and you get cancelled.
‘I think that’s such an interesting thing. I go deep when I think about things and I was thinking, why is cancelling such a tough thing?
Answering her own question, Davina said: ‘I think it’s about the lack of forgiveness that anybody is allowed to have for making a mistake.’
Claims: The TV presenter, 54, said that anyone in the spotlight is ‘terrified’ of being cancelled but believes that it is due to a lack of forgiveness from the public
The star admitted she thinks it’s ‘weird’ to vilify someone for something they wrote or said many years ago, as they may have changed their views since then.
She said: ‘If somebody says something and I think, that’s a celebrity that I have known for many years, one of the things that I think is really weird is hauling somebody over the coals for a tweet they made in 2011.’
Reflecting on her own experience, she said: ‘In 12 years, I’ve changed so much. When a journalist says to me they interviewed me eight years ago and I said this, I say “I’ve changed my mind”. You’ve got to be allowed to change your mind.’
‘Sometimes people could have been racist or homophobic 10 years ago, 12 years ago and they might have met somebody along the way who’s made them change the light.
‘And they could feel so ashamed of the way that they used to feel. They get hauled over the coals and they apologise and that apology is still not enough.’
Rylan said that the ‘block button’ in life is not just a digital thing, and asked Davina ‘where does it stop?’.
Davina replied: ‘The only way I have learned in life is by forming opinions about how I feel about things. If I listened to somebody I absolutely 100% disagree with, I can formulate an opinion about that…
‘That’s why programmes like Question Time are interesting because you’ve got all sides of the political spectrum. Sometimes there’s somebody on there that drives you mad, but that’s a good thing.
‘We must not stop the voices that annoy us or aggravate us or say something different by shaming them… It seems that forgiveness isn’t on the agenda anymore…
‘This loss of anybody following any kind of religion means you are unable to pardon anybody. You just will hold that vendetta against them forever, even if they are hand on heart genuinely really sorry. It seems really sad.’
Interview: Davina, who appeared on Rylan Clark’s podcast Ry-Union, was asked about cancel culture and society’s lack of forgiveness by the host