Playwright Alfian Sa'at responds to Xiaxue's claims about 'cancel culture'

Xiaxue has been on the receiving end of backlash after tweets put out in 2010 were called out.

Darryl Laiu | July 23, 2020, 11:51 PM

Singaporean influencer Xiaxue has been in the news recently after allegedly racist tweets from 2010 resurfaced by others were reported to the police.

On July 23, Singaporean playwright Alfian Sa'at entered the conversation to respond to Xiaxue via a Facebook post about "cancel culture".

Alfian's post came after a 19-minute video was posted by Xiaxue on her Instagram with the caption "#CancelCancelCulture".

In the video, she explained her own take on what is "cancel culture" and its implications, by attempting to distinguish between "cancelling" and "boycotting".

Alfian Sa'at responds to her arguments

Alfian wrote in his post that he disagreed with Xiaxue's distinction between "boycotting" and "cancelling".

He wrote that her definition of "cancelling", "which is, by [her] definition, an active one", are how boycotts work.

He used the example of former American National Football League player Colin Kaepernick to illustrate this point.

In 2016, Kaepernick knelt down while the national anthem was played before a game.

Many people were unhappy with his act, and it resulted in complaints directed at Nike, pressuring them to drop their sponsorship deals with Kaepernick.

Alfian wrote: "But your definition of 'cancelling' is how boycotts work. People are mobilised."

Alfian also disagreed that cancelling is done by "a select group of people" who are part of this "cancel culture".

He pointed to the petition for Xiaxue to get charged, which attracted some 28,000 signatures.

He wrote that companies who work with her would be looking at this number as a "barometer of 'popularity'."

And it is the companies that pull the switch eventually.

Nike, for example, stood by Kaepernick by not ending his contract. On the other hand, Kaepernick could not find himself on the roster of any team in the NFL between 2016 to 2019.

"Ultimately, it is not mobs that 'cancel' a public personality; it’s the companies that do it by *actually* cancelling endorsement and advertising deals," he explained.

"It’s all about brand alignment. Companies might receive tons of what you call ‘harassment’ from irate members of the public, but if they feel that there’s brand alignment they will defend their partnership with you. And true enough, while some companies have dropped you like a hot pink potato, others have instead rallied to your side," Alfian added.

Read the full post here:

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Top image adapted from Rachel Ng and Twiter/@narellekheng