In recent years, there has been an increase in public attention toward what has generally been referred to as "cancellation," or the removal of support for an individual or entity, often in response to an offensive act. Accordingly, many varied conceptualizations of cancellation have proliferated, contributing to a lack of scholarly consensus around what cancellation is, the conditions under which it occurs, and the implications of cancellation for organizations and their members. We seek to address the ambiguity surrounding cancellation and provide a theoretical introduction to the concept. We first define cancellation and explain why it may implicate targets long after their behavior has occurred and deprive them of their social influence. We also differentiate cancellation from related concepts, theorize about the factors which influence the success of a given cancellation attempt, and describe the potentially significant organizational implications of cancellation.