Chapter 7: Cancel Culture – Summary and Analysis

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Chapter Summary

Chapter 7 opens with Ziwe recalling a 2020 Instagram Live conversation with Alyssa Milano about cancel culture. Milano argues that the term has come to mean public accountability rather than genuine cancellation. Ziwe then recounts an attempt to cancel her by Megyn Kelly, who tweeted a parent’s letter complaining that a Spence School teacher showed a clip from Ziwe’s show in an eighth‑grade class. The letter described the video as “hate speech against white women.” Ziwe notes that the controversy became free publicity for her show and that she does not believe in cancel culture, though she supports accountability.

She defines cancel culture as a catch‑all term that lumps together minor offenses and serious misconduct, thus diluting its power to hold people accountable. She points out that many who are “canceled” (especially wealthy white men) simply retreat for a while and return with their careers intact.

The chapter’s centerpiece is Ziwe’s interview with food writer Alison Roman, who had been criticized for calling Chrissy Teigen and Marie Kondo “sellouts” and for benefiting from cultural appropriation in her recipes. Ziwe asks Roman how many women of color helped write her apology and whether she paid them for their emotional labor. Roman sent gifts and made donations. Ziwe admits she cannot accept an apology on behalf of Asian women, acknowledging her own limited authority.

Ziwe then examines the model minority myth and the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings, where a white man killed eight people, six of them Asian women. She criticizes the police captain’s description of the shooter’s motives as “a temptation he wanted to eliminate,” arguing that such language dehumanizes victims and normalizes racist violence. She contrasts this with the Real Housewives of Dallas storyline where Brandi Redmond, after being called out for a racist video, leans on Tiffany Moon for emotional labor. Ziwe finds the whole culture of performative allyship exhausting—corporations post black squares for #BlackoutTuesday, but real change requires sustained effort, not a trend.

She concludes that she does not believe in cancel culture but believes in accountability. The occasional stupidity of online mobs is a small price to pay for that accountability.

Key Events

Alyssa Milano interview (2020): Milano says cancel culture is actually about public call‑outs and opportunities to learn.
Megyn Kelly’s attempt to cancel Ziwe: Kelly tweets a parent’s complaint about Ziwe’s video being shown at a private school; Ziwe treats it as free publicity.
Alison Roman interview (2020): Ziwe asks Roman about her apology for cultural appropriation and the emotional labor of the women of color who helped her write it.
Atlanta spa shootings (2021): A white man kills eight people, six of them Asian women; police frame the motive as a “sex addiction.”
Brandi Redmond on Real Housewives of Dallas: A white cast member who made a racist video seeks forgiveness from the show’s first Asian housewife, Tiffany Moon.
#BlackoutTuesday backlash: Ziwe critiques corporations and individuals who posted black squares without taking meaningful action.
Ziwe’s final stance: She does not believe in cancel culture but values accountability, noting that most “cancelled” people rebound quickly.

Character Development

Ziwe – She reflects on her own vulnerability to cancellation (the Megyn Kelly incident) and her discomfort with speaking for communities she does not belong to (Asian women). She shows a willingness to engage in difficult conversations while remaining skeptical of performative gestures.
Alyssa Milano – Represents the view that cancel culture is a misnomer for accountability; she speaks from experience as someone who was targeted earlier in her career.
Alison Roman – Portrayed as someone genuinely trying to make amends through donations and transparency, though the motives remain ambiguous.
Megyn Kelly – Presented as an older conservative figure whose attempted cancellation of Ziwe backfires.
Tiffany Moon – A reality‑TV figure forced to absolve a white castmate of racism, embodying the emotional labor expected of people of color.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Cancel culture as a meaningless umbrella – Ziwe argues the term is so broad it loses its power; comparing a hate crime to a tweet about a boy band is absurd.
Accountability vs. punishment – The chapter distinguishes between holding people responsible and permanently destroying their careers; Ziwe observes that most “cancelled” people return.
Performative allyship – Corporate statements after George Floyd’s murder are scrutinized (Papa John’s, Gushers, San Francisco 49ers) as hollow gestures. The black square on Instagram is used as a symbol of empty solidarity.
The model minority myth – Ziwe explains how this stereotype pits Asian Americans against Black Americans and erases anti‑Asian racism.
Emotional labor – Both Alison Roman’s reliance on women of color for her apology and Tiffany Moon’s role on Real Housewives illustrate the unpaid work people of color do to educate white people.
Police language as systemic racism – The Atlanta police captain’s framing of the shooter’s motive is criticized as racist, showing how institutions can normalize violence.

Why This Chapter Matters

Chapter 7 is the book’s most direct engagement with a term that dominates modern discourse about race and social media. Ziwe refuses to accept cancel culture as useful, instead advocating for nuanced accountability. She also demonstrates the limits of individual blame: focusing on Alison Roman or Brandi Redmond can distract from the systemic problems (cultural appropriation, media bias, corporate hypocrisy) that enable such behavior. By connecting the Atlanta shootings to the model minority myth and reality‑TV emotional labor, Ziwe shows how racism operates across different contexts. This chapter challenges readers to look beyond internet outrage and consider long‑term structural change.

Study Questions and Answers

1. Why does Ziwe say she does not “believe in cancel culture”? Does she oppose all forms of public accountability?

She believes the term has been co‑opted to describe too wide a range of actions, from minor offenses to serious crimes, making it meaningless. She does not oppose accountability; she supports calling out harm and demanding change. However, she notes that most “cancelled” people suffer only temporary inconvenience and that real consequences rarely extend beyond the internet.

2. How does the Alison Roman interview illustrate the complexities of apologizing for racial harm?

Ziwe points out that Roman relied on women of color to help craft her apology, which raises questions about emotional labor and whether the apology was genuine or performative. Ziwe also admits she cannot evaluate the apology’s sufficiency because she is not an Asian woman—highlighting the difficulty of speaking for an aggrieved community.

3. What is the “model minority myth,” and how does Ziwe connect it to the Atlanta spa shootings?

The model minority myth falsely portrays Asian Americans as uniformly successful and hardworking, thereby erasing their experiences of discrimination and pitting them against Black Americans. Ziwe argues that this myth contributed to the dehumanization of the six Asian women killed in Atlanta; the shooter’s “sex addiction” excuse relied on a stereotype that sexualizes Asian women, and the police’s framing of his motives as a “temptation” normalizes racist violence.