Cancel culture costs millions to University of Texas. Wealthy University of Texas donors are demanding the canceling of “cancel culture” or they will cancel their contributions.

“…public records that were published on Monday, and many of the alumni expressed anger at the situation. Some of the donors threatened to no longer contribute their money to the university if the situation isn’t fixed.”

The controversy goes all the way back to Summer 2020 when everything was getting canceled in the wake of the Minneapolis riots. We all remember the destruction of monuments and removing historical names from anything and everything. In the middle of the COVID19 pandemic, when it looked like college football may not even happen, of course student athletes activists called for the University of Texas to eliminate “The Eyes of Texas” as the school song.

The controversy continued through the fall football season and started to build momentum in the media. It seemed the school song was doomed. The message took a sharp turn away from cancel culture when, at the end of a brutal loss, one picture was snapped of quarterback Sam Ehlinger standing alone singing the “The Eyes of Texas”–the school song; surrounded by none of his teammates.

Longhorns QB Sam Ehlinger remained on the field for "The Eyes of Texas" school song after the four overtime loss to Oklahoma. https://t.co/Dmiqp1fjrs pic.twitter.com/EFS3uS3k6S

— KXAN News (@KXAN_News) October 10, 2020

That picture was a game changer. The university allowed the song to remain—for now—after letting the nationwide riots die down and hiring a new coach. Their non-committal statement in January was less than inspiring.

“And while Texas did positively respond to several requests it decided retiring ‘The Eyes’ in favor of a fresh song was a non-starter. Given the rhetoric on both sides of the debate it’s clear the song…will remain a divisive issue…”

Wealthy donors are making it clear to the university—keep the song, or we keep our money.

The same day, March 1^st, the university’s “The Eyes of Texas” History Committee (we’ll use a more accurate title here—the “Committee to Decide the Future of the School Song”) submits its final report on the issue, was the same day alumni let it be known if UT cancels “The Eyes of Texas” song and its surrounding culture, they will be canceling their million-dollar checks.

“’It is disgraceful to see the lack of unity and our fiercest competitor Sam Ehlinger standing nearly alone,’ another donor wrote. ‘It is symbolic of the disarray of this football program which you inherited. The critical race theory garbage that has been embraced by the football program and the University is doing massive irreparable damage to our glorious institution and the country. It has got to stop.’”

Donors aren’t planning to cancel their future contributions. The drying up of current donor dollars has already been costly.

“’Last night one [donor] texted me at 1:00 am, trying to find a way to revoke a 7-figure donation,’ President of the Longhorn Alumni Band Charitable Fund Board of Trustees Kent Kostka wrote to a group of administrators… ‘This is not hyperbole or exaggeration. Real damage is being done every day by the ongoing silence.’”

But what about the football team? Disarray? The sender points to the disarray of the football program headed by new football coach, Steve Sarkisian. First order of business Sarkisian put to rest in January was the football team singing the school song. All while the “Committee to Decide the Future of the School Song” are clutching their pearls deciding how to cancel culture on their campus using big words.

“’Well, I know this much,’ new Texas coach Steve Sarkisian began, ‘The Eyes of Texas’ is our school song and we support that song, we’re gonna sing that song, we’re gonna sing it proudly.’”

The entire controversy sucked the life out of the University of Texas for the last eight months. Here’s hoping a new coach will set a better tone and let the committee know they can pound sand.

Oh but don’t relax. Cancel culture has only begun. Coincidentally, on the same day UT’s “Committee to Decide the Future of the School Song” dries the ink on its report, Biden’s nominee for the Department of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, is being vetted in confirmation hearings.

Republicans are making it clear—Becerra has no business being leading a department whose mission, in part, is:

“…providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services.”

Who just shot coffee out their nose? The Department of Health and Human Services is about social programs focused on public health. Xavier Becerra’s experience is as an attorney and activist. An activist who sued the nuns for not supporting abortion, remember that? That was him. If anyone thinks the only thing at stake is a rowdy football song, oh no. The cancel culture Becerra will foment will make the cancel culture of Texas football school song 2020 seem like a high school JV football game on a Thursday night.

What could go wrong?

Lost of First Amendment rights for one. Not-our-favorite Republican Ben Sasse even agrees.

“Xavier Becerra isn’t an experienced consensus leader, he’s a culture war super-soldier with a long history of attacking First Amendment freedoms…Culture wars are poison to self-government, especially during a real public health crisis. The Senate should reject his divisive nomination.”

Surely Becerra wouldn’t overstep his role as the head of HHS to use his “super-soldier” superpowers to cancel more culture, would he?

No one thought in the middle of a pandemic, in a football off-season, a university in Texas would seriously consider canceling their fight song. Yet here we are.

No one thought nuns would be sued by a connected, political activist, over abortion yet he did.

Featured Image credit:  Wikimedia via Fox Sports; CC by 3.0 license; image cropped.