The Evolution of Cancel Culture and Its Institutional Roots

The co-authors of “The Canceling of the American Mind” discuss its new paperback release and where cancel culture stands a year and a half after the book’s original publication.

- Greg Lukianoff — 

• President and CEO of FIRE

• Co-author of "The Canceling of the American Mind"

- Rikki Schlott — 

• New York Post columnist 

• Co-author of "The Canceling of the American Mind"

Timestamps: 

00:00 Intro

04:35 Origin of book

07:56 Definition of cancel culture

17:55 Mike Adams, canceled professor

23:51 Alexi McCammond, former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief

31:57 Echo chambers on social media

35:09 Trump administration ‘canceling’ law firms and higher ed institutions

44:02 Rikki’s libertarian political identity 

51:02 Is cancel culture dead?

54:26 Outro

Read the transcript.

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Show notes:

• “Canceling of the American Mind” (paperback, 2025) by Greg Lukianoff and Rikki Schlott

• “We have never been woke: The cultural contradictions of a new elite” (2024) by Musa al-Gharbi