Liberals must “actively acknowledge” their role in cancel culture, CNN’s Abby Phillip said on CNN’s “Table for Five” Saturday during a conversation about Jimmy Kimmel and comments the late night host made following the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The suggestion was made after cohost Kmele Foster insisted the left has been “censorious” — a word Phillip agreed with.
“I think that’s something more liberals should say. I think it would help. They should acknowledge, not just in passing, but actively acknowledge where things went wrong. That’s the only way to move forward, I think, in a way,” she said.
This prompted skepticism from CNN’s Ashley Allison, who asked what should be acknowledged in the first place.
“Well, I think you have to acknowledge that there is a, listen, cancel culture was a thing. It was actually a thing, and it’s not just enough to say, well, my cancel culture was fine, but yours is wrong,” Phillip said. “There has to be an acknowledgement that, yeah, now I think everybody understands what free speech really looks like and what it means, and then you have to apply that thinking to what was happening four, five, six years ago in this country and say something about it.”
Allison then noted that there is a “difference” between Donald Trump playing a role in the cancellation of Kimmel’s show and “individual citizens” having “the ability to say, I don’t like it and let their dollars, let their viewership, let their subscriptions [decide].”
