A study showed that more than half of the American people believe that cancel culture is a threat to liberty.
Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll exclusively released the result of their survey to The Hill.
64% of the participants responded that their freedom is being threatened with "a growing cancel culture" while the rest disagreed.
36% of the respondents stated that cancel culture is a "big problem," 32% believe that it is a "moderate problem," 20% said that it is just a "small problem" and 13% said that it is "not a problem."
54% of the participants were "concerned" that expressing their opinions online could result to being banned or fire, while the rest disagreed.
The findings are relative to the rise of cancel culture today. Merriam Webster defines it as "the practice or tendency of engaging in mass canceling as a way of expressing disapproval and exerting social pressure."
Among the latest casualties of this practice are Piers Morgan and Sharon Osbourne.
Morgan left Good Morning Britain after the program received thousands of comments on his statement over Meghan Markle. Osbourne, on the other hand, left "The Talk" after an explosive conversation with her co-hosts for defending Morgan.
On March 8, Morgan said that he did not believe everything that Markle said during her interview with Oprah Winfrey. His statement sparked an outrage, bringing in 41,000 comments. The next day, he had an on-air clash with Alex Beresford, who criticized him over his opinion about the duchess. Morgan walked off the set but returned in 10 minutes. That same day, ITV released a statement informing about Morgan's departure from the show, effective immediately.
His friend, Osbourne, defended him on Twitter, saying, "People forget that you're paid for your opinion and that you're just speaking your truth."
Then on March 10, her co-host Sheryl Underwood asked her about the statement, stating that Osbourne appeared to be validating Morgan's statement, describing his words as racist.
Osbourne replied that she felt like she was "about to be put in the electric chair" because she has "a friend who many people think is a racist". On March 12, CBS announced Osbourne's decision of leaving the program, adding that her behavior toward her co-hosts during the heated argument did not align with the company's "values for a respectful workplace."
Following the incidents, Morgan himself criticized the alarming effect of cancel culture and called for its eradication. He reportedly launched an attack on cancel culture in his article in the Daily Mail, stating that it is time to "cancel the cancel culture before it kills our culture."
Mark Penn, co-director of the study, was concerned by the findings.
"It is a chilling finding that most people in the country now are afraid they would be fired if they expressed their real views on social media," Penn said.
"The public generally gives negative ratings to social media companies and sees the movement as more about censorship rather than trying to correct wrongs. It is growing as a national issue," he further stated.
The survey was conducted on March 24-25, with 1,945 participants.
