That’s So Cringe!

Why is everyone suddenly so embarrassed for everyone else?

Well, that was awkward. A few weeks ago, a relationship guru named Derrick Jaxn attracted millions of views with an Instagram video — now deleted — detailing numerous relationships with women other than his wife. “All of it,” he said in the video, “falls under the umbrella of inappropriate, cheating, affairs, stepping out.” Meanwhile, his wife, Da’Naia Jackson, sat beside him in support. In the flurry of chatter that followed, the Twitter jury found Mr. Jaxn guilty of cringe in the first degree, a combination outrage and ick. “Derrick Jaxn’s reaction video to his confession is a wonderful mixture of cringe, shock and utter hilarity,” tweeted one user. Mr. Jaxn finds himself in good company of late. New York Magazine has found cringe in the New York mayoral candidate Andrew Yang’s call to increase funding for the city police department’s Asian Hate Crime Task Force. Slate has cringed at the European Instagram influencers who painted New York as a playland at the height of the pandemic. Royalists on Twitter, meanwhile, have invoked Piers Morgan’s sneering term for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle — “Ginge and Cringe” — following their Oprah interview.