Sylvester Stallone has largely ignored Hollywood’s political winds, sticking instead to themes of grit, perseverance, and personal responsibility. He doesn’t chase approval online or issue public apologies to stay in step with shifting norms, choosing silence over explanation. Stallone’s resistance to cancel culture shows up in that consistency: action over messaging, and conviction over political correctness. | © Lionsgate Films
Mark Wahlberg has been clear that his priorities lie with faith, family, and personal discipline, not chasing Hollywood approval. He’s openly questioned why celebrities feel qualified to lecture everyday people on politics, arguing that the industry often operates inside a detached bubble. Wahlberg’s stance against cancel culture is rooted in humility, pushing back on moral posturing in favor of living by example. | © Paramount Pictures
Anthony Hopkins has deliberately stayed out of public moral crusades, saying it’s not his place to lecture others on how to live. He’s described the internet as a breeding ground for judgment and outrage, where nuance rarely survives. Rather than feed that cycle, Hopkins chooses distance: focusing on his work, his inner life, and staying clear of cancellation theater altogether. | © Orion Pictures
Michael Caine has said he finds today’s climate of political correctness exhausting and creatively stifling. He’s argued that constantly watching your words turns conversations artificial and strips everyday life of honesty and humor. While he’s still working, Caine has made it clear he misses an era when people could speak freely, openly disagree and move on without outrage following every sentence. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Kevin Sorbo has openly said his career in Hollywood cooled once he became vocal about his Christian and conservative beliefs. Rather than fall in line, he carved out his own space in independent and faith-based films, choosing work that matched his values. Sorbo regularly calls out cancel culture as hypocritical, arguing that an industry preaching tolerance often has little patience for dissent. | © Fathom Entertainment
Ricky Gervais has made cancel culture a regular target in his stand-up, arguing that censorship kills comedy at its core. He’s pointed out that offense is subjective, and letting it dictate art hands creative control to the loudest voices online. Gervais is clear about one thing: people are free to be offended, but they don’t get the right to silence someone else. | © NBC
Matthew McConaughey has pushed back against what he calls an increasingly illiberal mindset toward people with opposing views. He’s warned that believing one side owns moral truth outright only deepens division and shuts down real understanding. Rather than canceling dissent, McConaughey argues for meeting in the middle and keeping conversations open, even when they’re uncomfortable. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Terry Crews has taken heat for refusing to follow a single approved narrative, especially when it comes to social movements and public pressure. He’s been clear that his views come from personal experience, not from fear of backlash, and that groupthink helps no one. By openly engaging critics and defending the right to question popular opinions, Crews frames cancel culture as a threat to individual freedom rather than progress. | © NBCUniversal
Jerry Seinfeld has been blunt about how fear now shapes modern comedy, especially on television. He’s argued that writers spend more time worrying about who might be offended than about whether something is actually funny, which drains sitcoms of their edge. For Seinfeld, that constant caution creates a sterile creative space where real humor struggles to survive. | © Netflix
Johnny Depp has described cancel culture as a dangerous rush to judgment, where accusation alone can be enough to erase someone overnight. Speaking publicly about it, he warned that no one is truly safe if claims are accepted without scrutiny or patience for the truth. Depp has urged people to resist the pull of the crowd and stand up for fairness instead of surrendering to snap decisions. | © Warner Bros. Pictures
Rowan Atkinson has been one of the most outspoken defenders of free speech in comedy, arguing that humor loses its purpose if it never risks offense. He’s compared cancel culture to a digital mob, quick to punish and uninterested in context or intent. To Atkinson, tightening social or legal limits on speech doesn’t protect society, it chips away at the freedom artists need to challenge, provoke, and reflect real life. | © ITV
Liam Neeson has warned that the entertainment industry is drifting into a mindset where accusation quickly becomes verdict. He’s criticized the rush to judgment online, arguing that nuance and due process tend to disappear once outrage takes over. After facing his own controversy head-on, Neeson has said the industry needs to pause, breathe, and step back from automatic condemnation. | © Paramount Pictures
Kevin Hart drew a clear line when he stepped away from hosting the Oscars rather than re-apologize for jokes he had already addressed years earlier. He said he wasn’t interested in performing endless repentance just to satisfy online outrage, especially when the issue had been discussed and owned in the past. For Hart, growth matters more than freeze-framing someone at their worst moment, and he refuses to let old mistakes define his present or future. | © Sony Pictures Releasing
Clint Eastwood has never softened his stance on what he sees as a culture obsessed with offense and overcorrection. He’s openly criticized modern sensitivity and political correctness, arguing that society now spends more time policing language than dealing with real problems. Rather than adjust his worldview to fit the moment, Eastwood keeps making films on his own terms and treats outrage culture as a passing phase, not something worth bending to. | © United Artists
Bryan Cranston has spoken openly about how modern culture rushes to punishment without leaving space for growth. He’s argued that cancel culture shuts down apology and redemption, replacing conversation with instant exile. To Cranston, a society that refuses second chances isn’t holding people accountable, it’s abandoning empathy in favor of public destruction. | © Sony Pictures Television
Cancel culture is often treated as a single idea, but these actors push back in very different ways. Some argue for forgiveness, others for free speech, and a few simply refuse to play along at all. What they share is the belief that silencing and permanent punishment aren’t the same as progress.
