Canceled figures pivoted into a thriving counter-counterculture industry by the mid-2020s

Evidence

By the early 2020s, the #MeToo movement and a broader push for social accountability had toppled a wide range of male entertainers, though with varying degrees of consequence. Harvey Weinstein, Bill Cosby, and R. Kelly faced legal reckonings. Others were simply branded with a scarlet hashtag, cut off from mainstream platforms and corporate partnerships. But in the age of digital media, there were always ways to work around exile. By the mid-2020s, the counter-counterculture had grown into a thriving industry, offering a lucrative second life to men once cast aside. — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 788

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader themes of status competition and subcultural exit — the canceled forming a new out-group — echoing earlier chapters on how marginal tastes become markets.