In the wake of conservatives criticizing Jelly Roll for his performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and praising Enes Kanter for calling out the WNBA on its inability to define what a woman is, CNN’s Abby Phillip assembled her Table for Five on Saturday to try to accuse conservatives of hypocrisy. Unfortunately for Phillip, she completely misunderstood the problem with actual cancel culture and the original demands that athletes “shut up and dribble.”
Phillip rattled off a couple examples of what the CNN chyron tried to describe as “MAGA cancel culture,” “Despite Trump's history of fat jokes about other people, Florida Congressman [Jimmy Patronis] was so mad about this that he said that the singer is not welcome in the panhandle anymore, calling him a ‘token ‘country’ star the libs enjoy.’ Another, Kacey Musgraves, the country star. She asked fans to donate to a nonprofit that provides legal aid to immigrant children whose parents, she said, have been deported unfairly. And her message said this, quote, ‘It's not a political thing. These kids need help.’ A Fox News MAGA commentator was among the critics, hitting back, asking, ‘What's an unfair deportation?’”
Cancel culture properly understood is about deplatforming or punishing people. It is not about personally not listening to someone’s music or criticizing their stance on immigration.
CNN's Abby Phillip can't tell the difference between conservatives praising athletes talking about sports and criticizing those who talk about stuff other than sports, "But the shut up and dribble crowd this week loved when Enes Kanter trolled women's sports. They called him a… pic.twitter.com/ooUJeo5IlT
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) August 29, 2026
Still, Phillip’s cluelessness was only just beginning, “The shut-up-and-dribble crowd this week loved when Enes Kanter trolled women's sports. They called him a ‘legend’ and ‘courageous’ and ‘brave’ for showing up at a WNBA game to protest trans athletes in sports. So, I mean, why can't people speak their mind?
It fell to Lauren Wright, who is the rare combination of an Ivy League professor and a conservative, to be the voice of reason. She pointed out that nobody is actually claiming Jelly Roll or Musgraves can’t have opinions, “I think they can. They're going to lose fans and lose money. I think music is different than sports. You need to sell albums and tickets, but you know, they probably already calculated that and they're probably going to be fine. These are huge stars. And yeah, you alienate people when you say things.”
However, Wright was vastly outnumbered. Podcaster Kara Swisher retorted, “So, but here's the thing, anti-woke—anti-woke people are the most woke people in existence right now. Like every accusation is a confession.”
She also claimed, “And you're like, they're just like, frankly, that was a pretty good joke by Jelly Roll, and I'm not an enormous fan of his, but he should be able to make jokes and have, you know, that's what Elon that's the reason Elon bought Twitter is because nobody could do a joke anymore.”
Swisher was referring to Jelly Roll claiming that he has lost the equivalent of one Donald Trump in weight, which was one of the more tame fat jokes he told. More importantly, before Musk bought Twitter, you could not tell certain jokes. That’s different than being criticized for telling a bad one.
Still, Phillip defended Jelly Roll, “And that wasn't a political joke. It was just a fat joke.” Of course, she left out the part where Jelly Roll also accused him of being a racist.
Contributor Cari Champion then lamented, “I was having this conversation with a colleague of mine and she was—and she's also in sports and she says, ‘You know, I think people think I'm toxic because I make— I have very strong opinions about things that everyone has a strong opinion about, but if it was more so conservative, I'd be okay.’ I don't like that. We live in a world where you can say, ‘shut up and dribble’ or ‘shut up and sing’ but you can't say, ‘Hey, Enes Kanter, sit your ass down, you're ridiculous. And you're making a big issue —’”
Wright jumped into object, “I don’t know. I mean, at Princeton, trust me, I've got conservative opinions that are not popular. I think it depends where you are.”
Champion again bizarrely tried to claim that the sports media world is heavily conservative, “In the world of sports, I am telling you, there are more people agreeing with Enes in terms of men saying he's just trying to protect women.”
After Wright interrupted to say, “Well, maybe that’s telling,” Champion brushed such concerns aside, “And no, that’s not telling. It's ridiculous because it's not an issue.”
The idea that the “shut up and dribble” crowd are hypocrites is quickly becoming a CNN talking point, but it is actually the other way around. The people who wanted athletes to fight so-called “systemic racism” are now demanding athletes shut up and dribble when the competitive integrity of their sports is being threatened by liberal culture warriors.
Here is a transcript for the August 29 show:
CNN Table for Five
8/29/2026
10:42 AM ET
ABBY PHILLIP: Despite Trump's history of fat jokes about other people, Florida congressman was so mad about this that he said that the singer is not welcome in the panhandle anymore, calling him a “token ‘country’ star the libs enjoy.”
Another, Kacey Musgraves, the country star. She asked fans to donate to a nonprofit that provides legal aid to immigrant children whose parents, she said, have been deported unfairly. And her message said this, quote, “It's not a political thing. These kids need help.”
A Fox News MAGA commentator was among the critics, hitting back, asking, “What's an unfair deportation?”
But the shut-up-and-dribble crowd this week loved when Enes Kanter trolled women's sports. They called him a “legend” and “courageous” and “brave” for showing up at a WNBA game to protest trans athletes in sports. So, I mean, why can't people speak their mind?
LAUREN WRIGHT: I think they can. They're going to lose fans and lose money. I think music is different than sports. You need to sell albums and tickets, but you know, they probably already calculated that and they're probably going to be fine. These are huge stars. And yeah, you alienate people when you say things.
KARA SWISHER: So, but here's the thing, anti-woke—anti-woke people are the most woke people in existence right now. Like every accusation is a confession.
LAUREN WRIGHT: Yeah. I think we should be super consistent.
SWISHER: Consistent. Absolutely.
WRIGHT: Yeah
SWISHER: And you're like, they're just like, frankly, that was a pretty good joke by Jelly Roll, and I'm not an enormous fan of his, but he should be able to make jokes and have, you know, that's what Elon that's the reason Elon bought Twitter is because nobody could do a joke anymore.
PHILLIP: And that wasn't a political joke. It was just a fat joke.
SWISHER: It was funny. It was a good—
PHILLIP: And a fat joke you might not like. But I mean, it is in the, you know, pantheon of jokes that you could do, yeah.
CARI CHAMPION: I just don't know. We are at a—I'm just thinking bigger picture here. I was having this conversation with a colleague of mine and she was—and she's also in sports and she says, “You know, I think people think I'm toxic because I make— I have very strong opinions about things that everyone has a strong opinion about, but if it was more so conservative, I'd be okay.”
I don't like that. We live in a world where you can say, “shut up and dribble” or “shut up and sing,” but you can't say, “Hey, Enes Kanter, sit your ass down, you're ridiculous. And you're making a big issue —”
WRIGHT: I think that what's—most people have that opinion.
[crosstalk]
CHAMPION: Why is it—why can't why are they praising him and saying and saying what he's saying is amazing. And then having a problem with Jelly Roll said. I don't—
WRIGHT: I don’t know. I mean, at Princeton, trust me, I've got conservative opinions that are not popular—
CHAMPION: I trust you in—
WRIGHT: I think it depends where you are.
CHAMPION: In the world of sports—
WRIGHT: Okay.
CHAMPION: I am telling you, there are more people agreeing with Enes in terms of men saying he's just trying to protect women—
WRIGHT: Well, maybe that’s telling.
CHAMPION: And no, that’s not telling. It's ridiculous because it's not an issue.
