Lily Cole: Cancel culture is problematic

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Lily Cole has described cancel culture as “problematic” and said it does not allow space for growth.

The model and activist spoke out against the social media phenomenon of boycotting someone who has acted or spoken in a questionable or controversial manner.

She told the Women’s Prize for Fiction podcast: “Our culture today is quite problematic: how we take very strong moral positions sometimes, and then don’t allow for imperfection and don’t allow for space for growth.

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“Whether it’s the cancel culture or cutting people down, I get quite uncomfortable with how that discourse can get quite uncompassionate and judgmental.”

Cole said she turns to her daughter Wylde, four, in her bid to remain open to learning new things and said: “I’m interested in what adults can learn from children – because they have magic and an openness that is sadly lost along the way for a lot of people growing up.”

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The actress also discussed what she hopes what she hopes will be a positive that will come out of the coronavirus pandemic, saying: “I talk about climate crisis as a unifying threat that has potential to bring humanity together. And coronavirus has done that.

“For all the hugely traumatic and negative fallouts, one of the silver linings is that we have been brought together, and people of different backgrounds all have to deal with it together. I’m hopeful there’s a potential for something very unifying to come out of that experience.”