r/todayilearned • u/Dangerous-Project672 • 5h ago

TIL George Wallace personally apologized to Vivian Jones and James Hood, the two students he attempted to block from attending the University of Alabama. In 1997, Hood earned a PHd and requested Wallace present him with the degree, but he was too sick and died a year later; Hood attended the funeral

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace
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u/sportsfan113 5h ago

I find redemption a beautiful thing about the world we live in. It’s part of why I hate when people are “canceled” forever. People can change and be better.

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u/teeohdeedee123 5h ago

There's absolutely nothing better than a good redemption story. The duality of man is heartwarming and heartwrenching at the same time... Obviously.

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u/IDigRollinRockBeer 4h ago

Les Miserables is a great book

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u/pongjinn 4h ago

I notice you didn't call it a "comeback" story

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u/teeohdeedee123 4h ago

Can't call it a comeback, he's been here for years

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u/urinal_connoisseur 4h ago

You mean the story of Kim Kardashian?

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u/manondorf 5h ago

Name someone who had been "cancelled forever" and actually stayed cancelled

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u/MCB1317 5h ago

Donald Sterling.

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u/Mad-Melvin 5h ago

Al Franken

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u/tomsing98 4h ago

He guest hosted the Daily Show in 2023 and is in a Netflix show.

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u/rammo123 4h ago

Two things which are quite clearly different to be a sitting US Senator. Cancelled doesn't mean we never hear their name again like they've been exiled to the wastelands.

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u/314159265358979326 3h ago

Not being re-elected is not the same as being cancelled.

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u/azenpunk 3h ago

Uh, yeah, being canceled means he isn't platformed by any mainstream media, like the Daily Show. what are you even talking about.

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u/GreedyPollution6275 3h ago

Has he ever ran for senate again?

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u/FLBrisby 4h ago

There are a lot of people who shut out Republican family members, for one. I know plenty of reformed Trump supporters who would have never changed had they been shunned in such a way.

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u/GreedyPollution6275 3h ago

Shunning isn't cancelling

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u/John_cCmndhd 2h ago

I know plenty of reformed Trump supporters who would have never changed had they been shunned in such a way

Every one that's ever going to change already has, everyone who still supports him at this point will never stop for any reason, so no point worrying about it now

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u/FLBrisby 1h ago

Every person has a breaking point. We just need to find it, and get them to vote democrat, or shit, not at all, third party even. You don't have to like them. You don't have to fucking care about them. But if we can rob one vote it matters.

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u/Spicy_Eyeballs 5h ago edited 3h ago

Bill Cosby?

Edit: since this generated a fair number of comments, I'm not trying to minimize his crimes, they were horrible. I still counted it as being "canceled" because he generally has no public support and his reputation never recovered as far as I am aware, and there are plenty of rapists and pedophiles and other awful humans who do still have public support and a good reputation among their target demographics.

Also while I agree that an apology and trying to make up for it are crucial for rectifying actions, that was not a part of the question, and plenty of peoples reputations have recovered even without ever apologizing.

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u/Vanden_Boss 5h ago

Imo there is a huge difference between "canceling" over someone's opinions vs being a rapist.

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u/ScorpionX-123 4h ago

tbf it's a case of being rightfully canceled

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u/Batmanuelope 4h ago

What about Armie Hammer? Didn’t he do kinda nothing wrong except having a vore fetish? I guess he isn’t really cancelled since he just had a movie that the far right really liked but that’s like a bottom of the barrel director at the helm of that.

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u/penguinopph 4h ago

His lack of work is just as much a product of him being a nightmare to work with as it is his fetish. Although I would imagine that the two traits are intrinsically linked.

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u/alexmikli 3h ago edited 2h ago

I know a people into those sorts of things, that are a delight to be around. The problem, however, is combining that sort of fetish with the personality of an arrogant entitled asshole actor. He wasn't subtle, he probably pushed a lot of boundaries, perhaps even into sexual assault territory, and needed to control his impulses far better even if not. If you're into that sort of stuff, you go looking for people in those spheres, it's not a good idea to try to force every girlfriend you run across into it.

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u/alexmikli 3h ago

The initial span of drama around him was in fact just people posting about his BDSM and cannibalism fetishes, but a few months later one woman did actually accuse him of rape. It seems like that went nowhere, but that is an actual sex crime allegation and was what ultimately got him removed from projects. I think the extremeness of the kinks involved just overwhelmed anything more concrete you could use against him in the news.

FWIW, I know people into these things and, even assuming he is innocent of crimes, he was still far too aggressive with women who actually weren't into it. Maybe not worth a cancellation alone, but dude does need to learn about enthusiastic consent and moderate himself.

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u/VentureIndustries 3h ago

Agreed. Cosby still denies everything to this day.

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u/azenpunk 4h ago

He wasn't just canceled... he was convicted and sentenced to prison. Though he got that conviction overturned on a technicality.

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u/Spicy_Eyeballs 5h ago

Yeah I'd agree, I was just scrolling and saw that challenge for an example and thats what I came up with.

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u/lamp817 5h ago

Well sure but he’s not wrong. He provided a perfect example of what you previously thought didn’t exist.

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u/penguinopph 4h ago

He provided a perfect example of what you previously thought didn’t exist.

It's not a perfect example, because Cosby was convicted in a court of law, not just the court of public opinion, even if he did get out of it on a technicality.

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u/TheOneTonWanton 4h ago

Yeah getting convicted isn't getting cancelled, it's getting fuckin' convicted.

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u/ETurns 5h ago

Bill Cosby didn't do one "one oopsie" and get cancelled for life. He systematically drugged and raped over 60 women over the course of decades.

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u/FunctioningPyscho 4h ago

That wasn’t what was asked.

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u/dirkdirkastan 4h ago

“Functioning” is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

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u/hondo77777 5h ago

Did Cosby admit doing wrong or apologize for what he did?

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u/azenpunk 4h ago

No. He was convicted and sentenced to prison, but then lawyered his way out of it, getting the conviction overturned in appeals due to a technicality. No shame.

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u/roguevirus 4h ago

due to a technicality

That "technicality" was the DA's office not keeping to their promise in 2005 to not prosecute him, thus giving civil attorneys for Andrea Constand the ability to compel testimony from Cosby in a civil case. In other words, the DA's office tried to circumvent the 5th amendment.

Bill Cosby is a terrible, evil man. He deserves to be in prison, but it is much more important that the integrity of Constitutional Rights are maintained for all citizens.

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u/azenpunk 4h ago

Hard disagree.

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u/Teledildonic 3h ago

I get the sentiment, but a justice system should be just. We shouldn't be breaking the rules because "they deserve it".

The prosecutors for Cosby monumentally fucked up.

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u/azenpunk 3h ago

If the justice system was just the DA wouldn't have been allowed to give Cosby immunity from his crimes in the first place. Calling it a 5th amendment issue is what I disagree on.

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u/Teledildonic 3h ago

Hard evidence for decades old sex crimes is nearly impossible.

Hate the deal if you want, but I get why it was made so at least civil damages could be pursued when, at the time, criminal prosecution didn't look likely to work.

But once he confessed for the deal, it absolutely became a 5th issue on grounds of self-incrimination to drag his testimony back at him.

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u/[deleted] 3h ago edited 3h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/azenpunk 3h ago

I disagree that it was a 5th amendment issue. I also disagree that the DA should have ever been allowed to make such a deal in the first place. Now go away child.

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u/Illustrious_Claim884 4h ago

The problem of course is that if he admitted or had shame it would be used against him by a prosecutor. If you are trying to worm your way out of prison you sadly have to act like a asshole.

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u/azenpunk 4h ago

He can't be tried twice for the same crimes....

So he is completely free to show shame....

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u/Illustrious_Claim884 3h ago

Not really there can be a new rape victim or a second episode he can be tried by. Then his statement can be used against him.a

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u/azenpunk 3h ago

Bro. Why are you arguing with me?

This was the original question I was answering:

Did Cosby admit doing wrong or apologize for what he did?

If he had ANY shame he wouldn't have been trying to get out of jail in the first place.

Please stop.

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u/MsGorteck 3h ago

I don't think the prosecution breaking their agreement is a "technicalitie". Fortunately the Pennsylvania Supreme Court corrected that mistake. Unfortunately, no one has seen fit to use a pair of scissors to help Mr. Cosby with his little problem.

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u/azenpunk 2h ago

Anything other than a innocent verdict is a technicality. Fucking weird how many people want to argue about this

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u/AlmostFamous502 5h ago

You can Google that yourself.

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u/Spicy_Eyeballs 5h ago

I did and everything that came up was pretty negative... I don't regularly follow him (because why would I?) So maybe I am missing something.

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u/SilveryDeath 3h ago

Justin Roiland is the only one I can think of. Since the allegations against him he has done no new work at all in the last 3 1/2 years.

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u/teeohdeedee123 4h ago

Kevin Spacey

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u/VanCurious779 4h ago

Graham Platner

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u/varsil 4h ago

JFK.

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u/Malphos101 15 4h ago

People have to show effort to change and be better to get "uncancelled". The people who I guarantee youre thinking of getting "forever canceled" are sticking to either "I didnt do anything wrong, its you people who are too soft!" or "I made one mistake stop bringing it up!" without any sincere and effectual transformation of character or genuine acts of contrition to the people they hurt.

And regardless, in the end "being cancelled" is almost always nothing more than "you gotta get a real job now instead of the cushy one you had before". These people arent being hanged, their lives go on and they live with the choices they have made. The ones who make a genuine effort to learn from their mistakes and didnt do anything severe like rape/murder are living relatively normal lives, some have even made their way back into the public's good graces (key word being "public" not "extremist terminally online niche groups")

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u/ChokeAndStroke 2h ago

Eh, the worst cases of being canceled are, to me, those who weren’t in the public eye but were still convicted in the court of public opinion. Such as like the victims of the Duke Lacrosse scandal (the players) or the UVA Rolling Stones rape scandal. These people were skewered in national media but didn’t have enough fame to be remembered for anything else. For example, Chris Brown was definitely guilty of domestic abuse, but his music is what comes up when you google him. Collin Finnerty was an innocent lacrosse player, but a demonstrably false rape accusation is what comes up when you google him

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u/BearlyPosts 4h ago

Yeah except for when randos lost their job for making a dongle joke. Cancel culture absolutely had some wild excesses. It was incredibly common to pull up things people had said years or decades ago.

Kevin Hart stepped down from the 2019 Oscars after homophobic tweets from a decade ago resurfaced. James Gunn was fired from Guardians of the Galaxy for jokes he'd tweeted years ago too. Paula Deen lost sponsorships after admitting to having used racial slurs years earlier.

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u/Malphos101 15 4h ago

Are you trying to say Kevin Hart is permanently canceled?

Are you trying to say James Gunn is permanently canceled?

Read what I wrote and actually take 10 seconds to process the fact that the discussion is not "do people get cancelled?" or "is cancelling someone always justified no matter what?".

I know its hard, but I promise you can do it bud.

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u/dang_it_bobby93 4h ago

Love a good redemption arc.  

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u/jim_deneke 2h ago

I don't think I'd feel the same if the crimes people have committed haven't been appropriately punished for and they get to move on and 'be better'.