Stephen King, a writer whose best work was the work of drinkables and sniffables, has spent his latter years churning out disposable material and venting about Trump on Twitter. But King’s leftism is of the vintage variety dating back two generations.

He’s the sort of guy who hates the military over the Vietnam War and whose entire political worldview was shaped by the assassination of JFK, Vietnam, Nixon, etc… and hasn’t actually gone anywhere since. So, at some point, he was bound to run headfirst into the crybullies.

King responded to awards season by tweeting, “As a writer, I am allowed to nominate in just 3 categories: Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Screenplay. For me, the diversity issue–as it applies to individual actors and directors, anyway–did not come up. That said… I would never consider diversity in matters of art. Only quality. It seems to me that to do otherwise would be wrong.”

“The most important thing we can do as artists and creative people is make sure everyone has the same fair shot, regardless of sex, color, or orientation. Right now such people are badly under-represented, and not only in the arts.”

That’s one of those common sense opinions which is now a hate crime.

But, the interesting thing about it is that, despite the spate of thoughtcrime articles attacking him for it, the usual Twitter mob subtweeting angry messages, King hasn’t apologized or responded that he needs to be educated on the subject. The usual tantrums by woke creatures like Roxanne Gay and Ava DuVernay who exist only to lecture others on their political incorrectness, have accomplished nothing.

That’s about the same thing that happened when J.K. Rowling spoke out about the reality of biological sex, and despite the lynch mob, kept on steady.

Rowling and King are among the few writers who are successful enough that canceling them is nearly impossible. Harry Potter isn’t going anywhere. Neither is The Shining. But it may also be a signal that cancel culture is losing its power. And when prominent people defy it, the totemic power of the hate cult weakens.