Lights, camera, cancellation: Cancel culture, social networks, and hiring decisions in the Hollywood film industry, 2000-2023.

We examine how public cancellations on social media impact career opportunities for actors and directors in Hollywood, exploring whether professional network structure moderates these negative effects. Two competing hypotheses are tested: (1) structural holes enabling brokerage may mitigate cancellation’s impact, and (2) dense networks may offer solidarity benefits. Using IMDb co-appearance data from 2000 to 2023 to reconstruct networks of over 1,500 actors and 600+ directors, combined with Reddit analysis identifying 34 canceled individuals, we find that cancellation significantly reduces rehiring likelihood. OLS and quantile regression analyses reveal that those with fewer structural holes retain more hiring opportunities than those with networks rich in structural holes. These findings support the solidarity mechanisms over brokerage mechanisms, providing empirical insights into cancel culture’s tangible career impacts while highlighting social capital’s critical moderating role.