Activism Works — Against the Activist Show

Online activism works! Mere days after CBS’s The Activist was announced, keyboard warriors cancel-cultured the much maligned television program where Priyanka Chopra, Usher, and Julianne Hough would have pitted do-gooders against one another in an America’s Next Top Instagram Activist-style televised woke-athon. The winner would have been awarded an all-expenses paid Italian vacay to the October 2021 G20 summit. But now no one is going to Italy, and we will never know if women’s rights are more share-worthy than malaria.

Much like its would-be activist judge Julianne Hough, who yesterday published an Instagram dissertation pontificating on “capitalism and the trauma that it causes so many people,” CBS is also listening, learning, and rebranding.

According to The Guardian, CBS is “reimagining” The Activist as a documentary showcasing activists’ “tireless work” with no competition element. How will we know who won, you might ask. Well, as Julianne Hough taught me, that is NOT what activism is about. A joint statement from CBS and Global Citizen, the Webby Award-winning advocacy organization producing the program, read, “It has become apparent the format of the show as announced distracts from the vital work these incredible activists do in their communities every day.”

Sounds pretty boring to me. I prefer my activism a little more in your face style, like when Cara Delevigne wore a top with the phrase “Peg the Patriarchy” to the Met Gala.