Convinced that the contract for the 1986 TV cop show parody Sledge Hammer would not be renewed, its creator wrapped up the first season with the title character’s bungling effort to defuse a nuclear bomb. The bomb exploded in the final seconds of the last episode, obliterating the entire city and seemingly destroying any chance of bringing back the program the following year.
The surprise ending created a buzz for the show, however, and Season Two was green-lighted. All summer long, fans wondered how the extinction of the entire cast would be explained. The first episode of the second season began with these words supered on the screen: “Five years earlier.”
Nowadays, it’s not just actors, writers, and producers on TV show that have to worry about being canceled. It can happen to anyone at any time for any reason, and going back five years in time and starting over isn’t an option.
Just ask Barry Sturner of the Chicago-based mortgage brokerage firm Townstone Financial. “We’ve been in business since 1998, and we’ve never had a complaint against us,” he boasts. “Not for discrimination, or anything else. Not one.”
But all it takes is one complaint, however frivolous, and cancellation looms.
Somehow, Sturner and Townstone ran afoul of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, established in 2008 ostensibly to do what its name suggests, but really designed to create enrichment opportunities for the unscrupulous plaintiffs' attorneys who typically support Democrat politicians.
Sturner tried to play by the rules. He believed in the rules. But the rules kept changing.
“I don’t know who is pushing this, or why,” says Sturner. “If a government agency is allowed to just expand the law, and make things up as they go along, it doesn’t matter what you do.”
Did Sturner inadvertently offend some Social Justice Warrior with a random personal comment on social media that was taken out of context and completely misconstrued? Or did one of his competitors take advantage of cancelation culture to bring down a rival?
Who knows? But watch out! You could be next.