There is nothing more embarrassing and ultimately shameful than recommending a band to your friend just to discover that the lead singer is a pedophile, his bassist made a homophobic tweet in 2012, and the drummer is a racist. All of the sudden your music taste has a tarnished reputation, because in 2022 all the media you consume must be absolutely un-cancelable: innocent and free of questionable characteristics. Some argue to “separate the art from the artist,” yet the consumer must ask themselves, is enjoying the music you listen to worth it for the sake of your morals? Even worse: what if you get canceled for supporting someone who is canceled? The Radish proudly advocates for media consumers looking to survive the dangerous world of cancel culture, and created the following guide so all can be cancel free by 2023.

Assess Your Favorite Artists

Before digging into new artists or bands, assess those who you already support. Specifically, the Radish recommends diving into all their socials and sifting through each post from the past 10 years (preferably back to when they first made their account). To simplify this process, try doing a find and search for any of the following keywords: 

• Any slurs
• “I hate”
• “I don’t like”
• “Women”
• “Men”
• “Pronouns”
• “Non-binary”
• “Unpopular opinion”
• “Racism”
• “Sexism”
• “Fascism”
• “Communism”
• “Anarchism”
• Any “ism” with political connotations
• Any acronym that may be controversial
• “Homophobia”
• “Political”
• “Politics”
• “Gay people”
• “Members of the LGBTQ community”
• “Phobia” 
• “Illegal substances”
• “Underage” 
• “Rights” 
• “Shouldn’t have rights”
• Any word that could not be included on this because of obscenity laws 

Additionally: try googling their name in the format: “Is ____ canceled?” Don’t waste your time searching through their work for questionable content, instead put your trust in the internet, specifically Instagram and Twitter fan pages, to provide the most reliable information as to who is canceled and why.

Review the Official Radish Cheat Sheet of Canceled Artists

To steer clear of canceled content creators, the Radish has curated a list of a few singers or bands who you, the listener, should stay away from:

• The Smiths- racist (source: Tik Tok)
• Taylor Swift- charged with drug trafficking in two countries (source: Tik Tok)
• Doja Cat- charged with piracy (source: Tik Tok)
• Billie Eilish- doesn’t support animal rights (source: some of my friends told me)
• Kendrick Lamar- tried to overthrow the British government a few years back (source: Instagram meme page)
• Phoebe Bridgers- insulted people with peanut allergies in a 2009 Tweet (source: Tik Tok)
• Arctic Monkeys- They’re a male indie band they’ve probably done something questionable
• The Beatles: committed tax fraud (source: Twitter)

Take Safety Precautions

Perhaps one of your favorite artists was on the aforementioned list, or you found out that they are canceled by stalking their socials. To prevent yourself from being squashed by the foot of cancel culture, here are a few safety precautions you can take:

• Don’t talk about music with anyone
• Don’t listen to music
• Don’t think about music
• Burn any merch you have from questionable artists; better yet, burn all merch you own
• Keep up to date with the latest news by frequently checking Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, and Twitter: those who are informed never get canceled

Use the “Forget and Forget” Mentality

At the end of the day, you must come to the conclusion that your favorite artists are terrible people. Rather than taking up a “forgive and forget” mentality, the Radish preaches “forget and forget.” For example, if that one artist just released the album of the decade but you stopped supporting them because they made a homophobic music video last year, simply just forget you ever saw it. Though morally concerning, you’ll find that most of the internet follows this technique, so you’re really just conforming to the crowd.