Blockout 2024: Cancel culture takes new form in viral trend, but will it have any impact?

The Front Page

There’s a new movement on social media in response to celebrities’ views – or lack thereof – on the war in Palestine.

“Blockout 2024” started with an inconspicuous video of a TikTok influencer posed outside the glamorous Met Gala with the sound bite “let them eat cake”.

Now, an online movement to unfollow and block celebrities is gaining momentum – with the likes of Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner losing hundreds of thousands of followers.

It's raised questions like: Will this effort have any effect? Why do we look at celebrities as our moral compass? And what about the celebrities who are escaping being ‘cancelled’ all together?

Today on The Front Page, University of Otago researcher, Dr Sabrina Moro is with us to dive into the latest social media firestorm.

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