The Impact of Cancel (Revenge) Culture
In 2020, I was forced out of a career I loved. Six years later, the repercussions persist, leaving me unable to secure full-time employment despite my exoneration. Cancel culture destroys lives.
In the fall of 2020, I was an award-winning principal with seventeen years of exemplary service in the Seattle School District. I was forced out after a vengeful teacher leaked a story to the media that I had caged a student, when in reality, we were playing ball with him in a play court. Today, I am a skeleton of the man who once existed, serving a life sentence in a world that refuses to look past the headlines that reside forever in a Google search. Read my story here
Despite the lack of truth, the story went viral. It was the lead story on local evening news, local talk radio, and national outlets like The Washington Post and NY Post but not one of these reporters reached out to hear my side.
Cancel culture impacts every aspect of one’s life. In the immediate aftermath, I discovered that I was essentially unemployable. Rejection letters poured in citing the false media reports as the reason for my disqualification and informing me that I had been blacklisted. I went from providing a comfortable life for my family to scraping by at a part-time, nonprofit job.
The humiliation of being unable to sufficiently provide for my family triggered a dark depression. I would have dreams of returning to the school I loved, explaining it all to the staff and having everything return to normal, doing the job I loved, but then I’d wake up and realize that my waking hours were a nightmare.
My children had to witness their father’s decline. I will never forget my son returning a $20 bill I had given him for a movie, saying, “You and Mom need this more than I do. I sat outside the movie theater eating left-over fries with my friend instead.” My daughter’s entire high school career was overshadowed by a father who was struggling, and unintentionally setting a dark, depressing tone in the household.
While the media fanned the flames, the school received multiple bomb threats, alongside targeted death threats directed at me and my family. A friendly colleague later informed me that the police and FBI got involved but no one warned me; I was treated as if my life no longer mattered. After losing a typical fence dispute, a neighbor weaponized the digital smear against me by circulating a letter to neighbors that featured my photo, address, and links to the fabricated news stories, ensuring I had no refuge even in my own home. Their intimidation tactics continue to this very day.
It took years for the truth to catch up. In 2022, the school district, Washington state’s Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission all dismissed the claims against me due to a total lack of evidence and no wrongdoing. However, there was no time for me to bask in these wins. Once the dismissals started to roll in so did the civil lawsuits.
It seemed like it was never enough. I had already been cancelled, lost a career that I loved, and became unemployable. I was now a named defendant in multiple lawsuits by the teacher who claimed I retaliated against her and the parent who claimed I caged her child. When I asked the school district’s attorney why I was being sued, he replied, “For revenge.” He stated that it was unusual to go after a person, since the district was the one with deep pockets. It was then that I realized it was not cancel culture but rather revenge culture that was taking me down. One attorney and two people realized they could monetize the situation by suing in a system that is no longer about justice, but has become a billion-dollar revenge industry. These individuals were suing a district already $87 million in debt, siphoning away taxpayer dollars that should have been spent on children. I was eventually dismissed from both lawsuits.
In the digital age, exoneration is not a cure. The headlines remain. Investigations or legal dismissals carry no weight in the court of public opinion. While the investigations eventually found the truth, the digital world is content to let a lie serve as my permanent reputation. To this day, I have not been able to find full-time work and Seattle Schools has refused my multiple requests to rehire me.
Photo of the playcourt that was referred to as a cage:
