There’s been a lot of talk about Hamilton on Disney+ in recent weeks, which also means there’s been a lot of attention paid to the stars of the hit musical production. One of those stars is Phillipa Soo, who has spent time talking about representation in theater productions and more in recent weeks. Now, however, she’s taken to social media to give advice on cancel culture, which can seem rampant on platforms such as Twitter.
There’s been a lot of cancel culture rolling around lately as a spotlight has been pointed at people who maybe said or did things that were not ideal. Given the spotlight that is shining on Phillipa Soo thanks to her hard work on Hamilton, she’s been using platforms like Twitter to give her own thoughts on theater, fame, cancel culture, and much, much more in recent weeks. In particular, she recently gave some advice on what to do if you are facing cancel culture online via Twitter.
Cancel culture: If you are ‘cancelled’ but do not wish to be, you must WORK to EARN back people’s respect by owning up to the thing that cancelled you in the first place, LISTENING to others, EDUCATING yourself, and ADVOCATING on behalf of the people that you have offended/harmed.
Interestingly, this is a topic that Kevin Hart touched on recently as well, though in his case, cancel culture actually became a focal point after some old jokes of Hart’s did not age well. (To my knowledge, cancel culture has not come after Phillipa Soo.) The reason I bring Hart up is because he has a more personal connection to cancel culture and a similar perspective in some ways to the Hamilton star, though his feelings also seem to differ.
Both Phillipa Soo and Kevin Hart definitely seem to have the viewpoint that people can change, grow and learn, but Hart also believes that the timing related to when a person is “cancelled” also matters. After stating that people need the chance to grow and learn he previously said:
It’s weird to really hold people at a level that they never asked to be held at. You gotta learn to act accordingly. You gotta learn to carry yourself in a professional and respectful manner. That’s things that are discovered in life. If babies came out with all the knowledge, then what’s the point of going from age 1-21?... You can’t hold me accountable for my childish behavior at 21, now I’m an adult. Well from 21-30 now I’m a young adult. Well I didn’t know what life was going to be as an old adult, so I messed up. We can’t be so persistent with the search and find and destroy.
When you have a platform as big as Phillipa Soo's is right now, many eyes are consistently trained on you and it seems Phillipa Soo keeps that in mind – though she also been unafraid to speak her mind about mask-wearing and more in recent topical threads. It seems her legacy in this time and place may be very important to her and if accurate that would square very nicely with her Hamilton character, Eliza Hamilton, who worked tirelessly to shape the image of her husband (and herself) in history. Of course, you can see for yourself by catching Hamilton on Disney+ now.
