They may be canceled, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are down for the count.
Some members of the celebrity cancel-culture club have shrugged off the shame and moved on. But many are still sunk as they attempt to reclaim their earnings and reputations.
A few have defiantly refused to apologize for controversial comments or misdeeds. Some even doubled down with new and contentious remarks.
Others appear to be treading water, riding out their hater shaming by avoiding the spotlight while hoping for new opportunities.
Here’s the latest on the scarlet-letter set:
Kevin Spacey
Status: Still sunk in Hollywood; Treading water in Europe
The controversy: In 2017, “Rent” actor Anthony Rapp accused Spacey of physically “trying to seduce” him in 1986, when Rapp was 14. Spacey, who claimed to have no memory of the incident, offered a public “sincerest apology for what would have been deeply inappropriate drunken behavior.”
He was accused of groping Richard Dreyfuss’ actor son Harry, who called him a “sexual predator” (Spacey’s lawyer denied the allegation), and of sexual misconduct involving multiple cast members from “House of Cards” — among more than 30 claims dating back to 1983.
Spacey was accused of assaulting the 18-year-old son of former Boston TV anchor Heather Unruh, but Massachusetts prosecutors dropped the case against him. Another claim against him was dropped because the accuser refused to be identified.
The cancellation: Spacey was fired from his hit Netflix show “House of Cards. His already filmed scenes in “All the Money in the World” were deleted and reshot with Christopher Plummer, and his Netflix bio of Gore Vidal was canceled. The actor was also dumped by his agents at CAA and his publicist.
A charity Spacey started in 2018 to help young people break into theater was shuttered.
In November 2021, the actor’s two production companies, M. Proffit and Trigger Street, were ordered to pay $31 million to the producers of “House of Cards,” because Spacey violated Netflix’s sex harassment policy.
The latest: Spacey is headed back to the big screen later this year, with the Italian production “The Man Who Drew God,” which has no US release date. He stars with fellow canceled celeb Faye Dunaway,
Rapp’s lawsuit against Spacey — accusing him of sexual assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress under the Child Victims Act — is set to go to trial on Oct. 4, 2022, in New York City.
James Franco
Status: Stuck in self-exile
The controversy: Franco went on Instagram in 2014 and asked a British girl he met outside a theater in New York if she was 18. After she told him she was 17, Franco asked for the name of the hotel where she was staying and if he should get a room there.
“I used bad judgment and I learned my lesson,” Franco said after the encounter went viral in an interview on ABC’s “Live! With Kelly and Michael.”
In 2018, five female students at his Studio 4 acting school in North Hollywood told the Lost Angeles Times that Franco had parlayed his position to exploit them sexually.
Two sued; last year Franco settled those claims, forking over $2.23 million.
The cancellation: The last big thing for Franco professionally was HBO’s “The Deuce.” The network allowed him to continue as the star, as well as a director and producer, despite the allegations. He has not appeared on the big or small screen since the show ended in October 2019.
Seth Rogen, his longtime collaborator and pal, dropped him, telling the Times of London that the scandal changed their relationship and that he had no plans to work with Franco in the future, ending a 20-year partnership.
The latest: After “The Deuce” wrapped in 2019, Franco stepped back from acting and hasn’t pursued new projects.
He appeared on “The Jess Cagle Podcast” on Sirius XM in December 2021 and admitted he had slept with students and “that was wrong.”
He claimed he has struggled with alcohol and sex addiction and that he “cheated on everyone” before hooking up with current girlfriend Isabel Pakzad.
He also said being dismissed by Rogen was “hurtful.”
Marilyn Manson
Status: Mostly sunk but fighting
The controversy: In February 2021, actress Evan Rachel Wood posted on Instagram: “The name of my abuser is Brian Warner, also known to the world as Marilyn Manson. He started grooming me when I was a teenager and horrifically abused me for years. I was brainwashed and manipulated into submission … I am here to expose this dangerous man and call out the many industries that have enabled him, before he ruins any more lives.”
More than a dozen other women then came forward with abuse allegations against Manson.
By last fall, four of them —including “Game of Thrones” actress Esmé Bianco — had filed sexual assault lawsuits against him. The singer has denied the claims.
The cancellation: Manson’s record label, Loma Vista, severed ties with him in February last year. It was also announced that his role in the Starz TV show “American Gods” would be cut and and an episode of “Creepshow” set to star Manson was dropped from the AMC series.
His manager said goodbye, and CAA no longer reps him.
The latest: Manson was nominated for a 2022 Grammy for his work on Kanye West’s “Donda,” but did not win.
In March 2022, he filed suit against Wood, his former fiancée, for alleged “malicious falsehood” over her abuse claims. Weeks later, HBO released Wood’s documentary, “Phoenix Rising,” which details her allegations.
In November 2021, the LA County Sheriff’s Department searched Manson’s home in relation to an assault allegation and seized several items.
That same month Rolling Stone reported that, “Despite radio stations significantly reducing [Manson’s] airplay since the accusations hit, his streaming numbers have remained steady at about 5 million per week.”
Armie Hammer
Status: Largely disappeared, but apparently plotting a comeback
The controversy: Actor Armie Hammer has been pounded by disturbing allegations from former flame Effie Angelnova, who in March 2021 accused him of violently raping her and fantasizing about cannibalism.
Another ex, Paige Lorenze, claimed Hammer carved an “A” into her pelvis using a knife and asked her to have a rib removed surgically so he could eat it.
App developer Courtney Vucekovich, who dated Hammer for five months in 2020, said he wanted to barbecue and devour her ribs. “He likes the idea of skin in his teeth,” she told Page Six.
Hammer’s lawyer has denied it all, saying that “any interactions with … any partner of his, were completely consensual in that they were fully discussed, agreed upon, and mutually participatory.”
The cancellation: The divorced dad dropped out of the film “Shotgun Wedding,” co-starring Jennifer Lopez, the Paramount+ series “The Offer,” and the Broadway show “The Minutes.”
The latest: Hammer appeared in Disney’s remake of “Death on the Nile,” which opened in February 2021 to mixed reviews and modest earnings.
“This film has become every publicist’s worst nightmare,” one industry source told The Post. Hammer was the only headliner not to be photograph for a promotional poster.
The Sun reported in December that Hammer had completed a months-long stint at a Florida rehab center for sex, drug and alcohol issues
The LAPD concluded its investigation into rape allegations in December 2021, with no charges filed.
In February 2022, a Hammer friend told The Post: “He will be coming back to his acting career in due course.”
DaBaby
Status: Dropped, but speaking out loudly
The controversy: The 30-year-old rapper (né Jonathan Lyndale Kirk) was accused of making homophobic remarks at a music festival concert in Miami in 2021.
He told the crowd: “[If] you didn’t show up today with HIV/AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put a cellphone light in the air.”
He added: “Fellas, if you ain’t sucking d— in the parking lot, put a cellphone light in the air.”
A later attempt to clarify his views didn’t help: He claimed to have gay fans who are disease-free because they are not “nasty gay n—-s or junkies.”
The cancellation: DaBaby got ripped by the LGBTQ+ community, Madonna, Elton John and his collaborator Dua Lipa. The fashion brand BoohooMAN bolted on a deal with him.
He was booted from the 2022 Lollapalooza tour and had a concert in Atlanta called off amid a flurry of cancellations, including radio stations putting his music into time out.
The latest: DaBaby has embraced his plummeting stock, declaring himself “cancelled” in a new version of his hit “Whole Lotta Money,” in which he both sobs and laughs off his situation, and in a tweet with his young daughter.
Gina Carano
Status: Still working, on a smaller scale
The controversy: Gina Carano, the former MMA fighter turned “Mandalorian” star, enraged some fans with a series of politically charged social media posts.
Her most damning remark came in February 2021, when she compared modern American political polarization to the killing of Jews during the Holocaust on an Instagram story.
“Most people today don’t realize that to get to the point where Nazi soldiers could easily round up thousands of Jews, the government first made their own neighbors hate them simply for being Jews,” she wrote. “How is that any different from hating someone for their political views?”
The actress also mocked the use of face masks on Twitter in November 2020 and repeated claims of voter fraud from the 2020 presidential election.
Her critics were further inflamed when she said on Twitter that her preferred pronouns are “beep/bop/boop” — seemingly making fun of transgender people. Carano defended herself by saying she wasn’t mocking trans people, but “exposing the bullying mentality of the mob that has taken over the voices of many genuine causes.”
The cancellation: In the wake of the Holocaust comment, the hashtag #FireGinaCarano began trending on Twitter, and Disney severed ties with the actress. She will not return as Cara Dune in “The Mandalorian” on Disney+ or in any upcoming “Star Wars” films.
Her management company, United Talent Agency, dropped her.
The latest: Carano is working on a feature film, “Terror on the Prairie,” about a serial killer truck driver, produced by The Daily Wire, the conservative media company behind Ben Shapiro’s podcast; and “My Son Hunter,” a biopic about President Biden’s son, directed by actor Robert Davi.
Chrissy Teigen
Status: Laying low, except on social media
The controversy: The ex-swimsuit model and wife of John Legend was accused by Courtney Stodden of bullying them beginning in 2011 after Stodden, then 16, married 51-year-old “Lost” actor Doug Hutchinson.
“She wouldn’t just publicly tweet about wanting me to take ‘a dirt nap’ but would privately DM me and tell me to kill myself,” claimed Stodden. “Things like, ‘I can’t wait for you to die.’”
Fashion designer Michael Costello and “Teen Mom” reality star Farrah Abraham claimed they, too, had been bullied by Teigen.
The cancellation: Teigen quit her role as narrator of the hit Netflix show “Never Have I Ever” and was replaced by Gigi Hadid.
It was reported that her cookware line disappeared from Macy’s and that Bloomingdale’s had dropped her from a deal. Teigen also bowed out of a planned cleaning-products line with Kris Jenner.
The latest: Teigen tried to make things right with a mea culpa on Twitter: “I am ashamed and completely embarrassed at my behavior but that is nothing compared to how I made Courtney feel.”
Stodden accepted the apology but added, “It feels like a public attempt to save her partnerships with Target and other brands who are realizing her ‘wokeness’ is a broken record.”
Teigen returned to social media after a hiatus, and has reflected on the situation. “Cancel club is a fascinating thing and I have learned a whollllle lot,” she posted on Instagram.
Apparently, the honesty is working in her favor. She went from about 30 million Instagram followers in July of 2020 to more than 37 million today.
Matt Damon
Status: Mostly unscathed
The controversy: Damon infuriated LGBTQ+ advocates when he told the Sunday Times of London in August 2021 that one of his daughters had taken him to task “months ago” for using the homophobic slur “f—-t” in a joke.
“Matt Damon reveals he JUST recently stopped using the word [f….t] as a slur after his daughter forced his hand…like what?,” tweeted Ben O’Keefe of the digital film studio CreatorPlus.
The 51-year-old actor defended the comments in a statement, claiming the Times interview “led many to assume the worst.”
He added: “I have never called anyone ‘f—-t’ in my personal life and this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening. I do not use slurs of any kind.”
The cancellation: While Damon took a drubbing online and some hurt fans have dropped him, there have been no direct career consequences. The actor is not known to have been fired from any projects over his comments.
As the scandal broke, Damon was promoting his film “Stillwater,” which took in a disappointing $20 million at the box office. Last year’s “The Last Duel” was also a flop, earning just $30 million.
The latest: Damon next stars in the new “Thor” flick, out July 8, and will appear in director Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer,” which hits theaters in July 2023. He also starred in a commercial for Crypto.com.
Louis C.K.
Rating: Still a success in his own bubble
The controversy: Louis C.K. was the hottest ticket in comedy before a group of female comics revealed that he liked to drop his pants in front of them and pleasure himself without their consent.
The funnyman admitted to the lewd acts following the publication of an investigative story in the New York Times in 2017, releasing a detailed statement on what he did and an apology to the women.
The cancellation: The scandal led to the scrapping of his movie “I Love You, Daddy,” a TV deal with FX and string of already-booked performances. His management company and publicist dropped him.
It cost him some $35 million in earnings, according to the comedian’s own count.
The latest: Louis C.K. has continued touring, playing venues including Madison Square Garden, to adoring crowds.
Because he distributes his own material, he’s also continued to have comedy specials — making them available to purchase on his web site.
There was a mini-outrage last year when he was allowed to purchase a commercial spot promoting his stand-up concert film, “Sorry,” during an episode of “Saturday Night Live.”
Earlier this month, he won the 2022 Best Comedy Album Grammy for “Sincerely Louis CK.”
Still, Gavin Polone, a Hollywood producer who knows the comic, said the comic was unlikely to snag Hollywood film work or TV specials any time soon.
“I probably wouldn’t do it,” Polone told The Post of working with Louis C.K.. “I don’t think he’s been as contrite as other people, and it hasn’t played well. But he’s fortunate that he can go back to what he’s best at. He’s brilliant. It would be great if Louie could be reclaimed.”
Dave Chappelle
Rating: Doing pretty darn well
The controversy: Dave Chappelle was slammed for making jokes about the transgender and gay communities in his October 2021 Netflix special “The Closer.”
The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) released a statement, saying “Dave Chappelle’s brand has become synonymous with ridiculing trans people and other marginalized communities.”
The cancellation: While there have been plenty of complaints about Chappelle, his jokes and his refusal to back down, that hasn’t hurt him so professionally.
Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos backed Chappelle, saying he had “artistic freedom,” even after a group of Netflix employees and transgender advocates staged a virtual walkout protest.
Sarandos later admitted he “screwed up” how the flap was handled.
Chappelle was booed and protested by some students when visiting his high-school alma mater in Washington, DC.
The latest: It was announced in February 2022 that he would be producing four more comedy specials for Netflix.
Chappelle has shrugged off the backlash, saying “If this is what being canceled is like, I love it.”
He has continued to perform and was nominated for a 2022 Grammy for best spoken word album, but lost to Don Cheadle.
JK Rowling
Rating: Still working, but tainted for young fans
The controversy: The “Harry Potter” author caused a storm with her social media posts about the transgender community, starting in December 2019 when she supported a British woman who was fired from her job for tweets that were seen as transphobic.
Six months later, Rowling piled on with a snarky tweet of her own after an international development group said it wanted “a more equal post-COVID-19 world for people who menstruate.”
“People who menstruate,” Rowling scoffed on the platform. “I’m sure there used to be a word for those people. Someone help me out. Wumben? Wimpund? Woomud?”
Rowling went on to pen an essay on her personal website, explaining her position, but not putting out any fires.
The cancellation: In addition to the ongoing online backlash from fans, “Harry Potter” stars Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint have taken her to task publicly.
She skipped an HBO reunion special for the 20th anniversary of the movie “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” called “Return to Hogwarts,” last December. All the major stars, plus producers and directors, participated, while Rowling was included using archival interview footage.
Some Potter diehards, meanwhile, were so shattered by her opinions, they had their Hogwarts-themed tattoos removed.
The latest: The billionaire is about to get richer. She’s the producer and co-screenwriter of “Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore,” the third movie of the “Harry Potter” spinoff franchise, which hits theaters April 15.
“Fantastic Beasts”‘ studio, Warner Bros., released a statement, but did not go so far as to denounce Rowling: “The events in the last several weeks have firmed our resolve as a company to confront difficult societal issues,” the statement said. “Warner Bros.’ position on inclusiveness is well established, and fostering a diverse and inclusive culture has never been more important tour our company and to our audiences around the world.”
She was also drawn into a public spat with Vladimir Putin, when the Russian president came to her defense, equating Rowling’s getting “canceled” with the the “progressive discrimination of everything connected to Russia” in the wake of his invasion of Ukraine.
The author tweeted back: “Critiques of Western cancel culture are possibly not best made by those currently slaughtering civilians for the crime of resistance, or who jail and poison their critics. #IStandWithUkraine.”
Faye Dunaway
Rating: Mostly done for
The controversy: In July 2019, The Post reported that the “Mommie Dearest” actress, now 81, had created a creating a “hostile” and “dangerous” environment while working on a play in Boston, including slapping a crew member.
She was sued that same year by her former personal assistant in Manhattan Supreme Court, who alleged she “regularly and relentlessly” subjected him to “abusive demeaning tirades” and used his sexual orientation as a gay man to “demean and humiliate him.”
The cancellation: Dunaway got fired from the Broadway-bound show, “Tea at Five.”
The latest: She stars with also-disgraced Kevin Spacey in the Italian film “The Man Who Drew God,” which does not have a US release date. And to think: In any other circumstance, having two Oscar winners in your film would be something to celebrate.
Will Smith
Rating: No more Oscars for Smith
The controversy: Perhaps you’re familiar with the slap heard around the world? After presenter Chris Rock made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s baldness at the 2022 Oscars — not realizing, he has said, that she suffers from alopecia — her husband, Will Smith, took to the stage and slapped Rock on national TV, then sat back down and yelled, “Keep my wife’s name out of your f–king mouth!”
The cancellation: Among the celebs who spoke out against Smith’s actions were Judd Apatow, Jim Carrey, Oscar co-hosts Amy Schumer and Wanda Sykes and Zoe Kravitz, though others came to his defense. Tiffany Haddish, Denzel Washington and Jameela Jamil expressed their support.
Sony is said to have put “Bad Boys 4” on hold and Netflix has back-burnered “Fast and Loose.” CAA reportedly discussed dropping Smith as a client, but has not done so.
The latest: Smith canceled himself by quitting the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, meaning he can no longer vote in the Oscars race. The Academy then banned him from the ceremony for 10 years.
Quitting the Academy does not mean that Smith can’t be nominated — but the group banned him from events for a decade and it could cost him a nod for the upcoming film “Emancipation.”
It remains to be seen what will happen with the many announced projects Smith is attached to as a producer, including “Hancock” and “Karate Kid” sequels.
Kanye West
Rating: Taking a time-out — for now
The controversy: It’s hard to know where to start with Kanye West controversies. But as for the latest, he has been accused of cyberbullying “Saturday Night Live” star Pete Davidson — who is dating West’s ex-wife, Kim Kardashian — and “The Daily Show” host Trevor Noah.
West’s public comments about Davidson reached a fever pitch in March 2022 when he released his “Eazy” music video, in which a Claymation version of the rapper is seen putting a bag over a Davidson-like character’s head, kidnapping him, burying him and holding up his decapitated head.
West also accused Kardashian of, among other things, keeping their children from him, which she denied.
“Divorce is difficult enough on our children and Kanye’s obsession with trying to control and manipulate our situation so negatively and publicly is only causing further pain for all.” she said in a February 2022 statement.
In March, Noah said on his show: “What [Kardashian is] going through is terrifying to watch, and it shines a spotlight on what so many women go through when they choose to leave.”
This prompted West to go after Noah on social media, calling him a racial slur.
The cancellation: A planned performance by West on the Grammys — which Noah hosted — was pulled.
West was also temporarily suspended from Instagram after the Noah comments.
The latest: The rapper most recently canceled himself, pulling out of Coachella less than two weeks before the April 2022 music festival.
