'Cancel culture' gets hilariously mocked over Yale's connection to infamous slave trader

Cancel culture, the practice of publicly shaming people and organizations — often resulting in an individual losing their job or a business losing customers — for saying or doing something objectionable, has been amplified in recent weeks as racial unrest took over the country in the wake of George Floyd's tragic death in Minneapolis.

Now, those chickens are coming home to roost.

Conservative pundit Jesse Kelly triggered a wave of "#CancelYale" momentum over the weekend after observing that Elihu Yale, the man for whom Yale University is named, was a notorious slave trader.

"Yale University was named for Elihu Yale. Not just a man who had slaves. An actual slave trader. I call on @Yale to change it's name immediately and strip the name of Yale from every building, piece of paper, and merchandise. Otherwise, they hate black people," Kelly tweeted, along with the hashtag "#CancelYale."

In another tweet, Kelly mocked, "I'm ok with arresting Yale faculty and alumni, but I think they all should be allowed to buy their way out of prison with reparation payments. Let's end Yale's vicious cycle of keeping other human beings in captivity. #CancelYale."

"I would never attend @Yale because I don't believe black people should be slaves. Unlike Yale," Kelly later tweeted.

Other social media users piled on with hilarious comments mocking cancel culture:

• "Everyone who has 'Yale' in his or her biography is a racist who supports slaver," Mike Cernovich said.
• "Every Professor that taught at Yale should do the walk of shame on live tv. It is NOT okay to participate in a historically racist institution such as Yale. THEY MUST PAY FOR THEIR BIGOTRY & RACISM!" another user said.
• "Changing Yale's name just hides their history. Every person with a degree from Yale should b canceled. They should be forced to resign from public office. Resign from all Boards. Be disbarred. Lose their professional certifications. Lose judgeships. Am I doing #CancelYale right?" another person mocked.
• "Yale needs to shut down. You can't expunge this sort of guilt by changing a name. Also current degree holders must renounce their degrees," another person said.
• "The same family invented locks that secure chains. Coincidence? I think not. So triggered I'm literally shaking right now," another person said, attacking an image of a Yale lock.

Kelly also targeted Harvard University, Brown University, Georgetown University, and New York City.

Later, Kelly tweeted, "I am calling on both parties in Congress to pass the Strip University Credentials Act for every American university like Yale, Georgetown, and Brown who are founded by slave owners. I'm calling it the SUC Act. End university racism and these monuments to slavery."