These are the celebrities making money off their own cancellations.

Are cancelled celebrities finding ways to make money from the reason they were cancelled in the first place? Seems so.

This exact topic was discussed on the latest episode of The Spill, as hosts Laura Brodnik and Kee Reece debated whether it's ever okay for celebrities to profit from their cancellations. 

The subject came up after a former Vanderpump Rules star, Faith Stowers, set up a GoFundMe page to sue her ex-costar, Stassi Schroeder. She's raising funds for legal fees for “justice against Stassi,” as she claims that Schroeder made false claims about her in her book Off With My Head: The Definitive Basic B***h Handbook to Surviving Rock Bottom.

Listen to the episode of The Spill here. Post continues after podcast.

In the book, Stassi speaks about being cancelled and fired from Vanderpump Rules in 2020. The cancellation began during the Black Lives Matter movement, as it came out that Stassi and castmate Kristen Doute had called the police on Stower, along with falsely accusing her of a crime, in response to a cheating scandal.

Stassi's career took a nosedive briefly, but it's currently thriving. She's enjoying a sold-out nationwide live tour for her podcast Straight Up with Stassi which launched in 2015.

"It sounds like she's taken this [cancellation] and made it into a personal hardship that she's had to overcome. She's rebranded herself as a survivor," Laura said on The Spill.

Kee spoke about how the cancellation had little effect her career path. "She's arguably back at the top of her game by 2023. So less than three years from cancellation to rising from the ashes," she said. 

Laura drew a parallel with comedian Louis C.K whose career somehow bounced back from being accused by five women of sexual misconduct in 2017 via a New York Times investigation. In a response made at the time, Louis released a statement to admit to his wrongdoings and apologise to his victims. 

Louis was dropped by his management company, HBO and Netflix cut ties with him, and an upcoming movie and animated series were canned. 

But just a year after the report first surfaced, Louis C.K returned to the stage. By 2022, the comedian had won a Grammy for 'Best Comedy Album', an album which was largely about cancel culture.

At the start of 2023, he had sold out a live show at Madison Square Garden. Sure, people make mistakes and should be allowed second chances (depending on their crimes), but he continues to bring up his cancellation in his comedy material. "He's still monetising a cancellation, especially around sexual assault," Laura said. "The women involved aren't making any money... they're seeing their pain used for comedy."  

Kanye West is a celebrity who has been cancelled more times than most. While his latest anti-Semitic statements have seemed to finally dim his star power, it wasn't so long ago that he was profiting from the time he got cancelled on a global scale. 

Image: Getty.

At the 2009 VMAs, Kanye stormed the stage when Taylor Swift was awarded the 'Best Video by a Female Artist'. He grabbed her microphone to say “Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!” 

Taylor was 19 years old at the time. 

In 2010, Kanye released song 'Runaway' which seemed to make light of the controversy. He performed the song on the 2010 VMAs which featured lyrics like "Let's have a toast for the douchebags, let's have a toast for the assholes, let's have a toast for the scumbags, every one of them that I know."

And who can forget Kanye's controversial song 'Famous' which once again sought to profit off his cancellation. The song included the lyrics, "I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex. Why? I made that bitch famous."

Like Stassi and Louie, Kanye is using his cancellation as a way to continue to boost his career. "They're leaning into these accusations and they're making money off it," Laura said on The Spill. 

But not every cancellation story is the same. Writer and influencer Caroline Calloway rose to internet fame in 2019 when she was outed by her former friend, Natalie Beach. She claimed to be Caroline's ghostwriter. 

Caroline has just released her first memoir Scammer, which seeks to clear her name... and she does this somewhat successfully. 

The book seizes on her cancellation for publicity and fame, sure. But it also presents several discrepancies around Natalie's version of events which prompted her cancellation.  

Caroline became a punchline in 2019 for allegedly not writing her own Instagram captions, but in Scammer, the author disputes this claim and she brings receipts. She also presents a bunch of damning evidence against Natalie, including claiming that her former friend tried to convince her to sign her life rights over in a Netflix deal. 

Natalie allegedly offered her friend $15,000 but Caroline claims Natalie would have pocketed $1 million if the deal went ahead. 

In the case of Caroline Calloway, making money off her own cancellation is something she's earned.

Feature image: Getty + Mamamia.