blackball

Even a popular New York City venue allegedly uses it to blackball people its millionaire owner considers adversaries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2026

Ms McKinney said modelling opportunities began to decline for her and she believed Mr Combs used his influence to "blackball" her in the industry.

From BBC ● May 22, 2024

Regarding the charge from many of his accusers that he threatened to derail their careers if they spoke out: “I couldn’t blackball anybody, because if I said, ‘Don’t use that actress’ .

From Washington Post ● Mar. 11, 2020

When she finally gave in, she insisted that I give her four weeks notice or she would blackball me.

From New York Times ● Jan. 20, 2020

Early in his career Owen used his influence at the Zoological Society to blackball a young man named Robert Grant whose only crime was to have shown promise as a fellow anatomist.

From "A Short History of Nearly Everything" by Bill Bryson

While that blackballs the firms, it does not ban all business dealings, the report added.

From Reuters ● Mar. 25, 2022

I buy licorice whips, jelly beans, many-layered blackballs with the seed in the middle, packages of fizzy sherbet you suck up through a straw.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

Of all candidates at a club a known quarreller is more sure of blackballs now than even in the times when such a one provoked duels.

From Phineas Redux by Anthony Trollope

Julius Cæsar Conway;—a great friend of mine, and therefore he always blackballs my other friends at the club.

From Phineas Finn The Irish Member by Anthony Trollope

Napoleon sees in this remark a germ of aggression on behalf of his House of Commons, more especially when emphasised by 125 blackballs against a Government Bill.

From Napoleon's Letters to Josephine by Henry Foljambe Hall

That will make it possible to identify potential vetoes but not which country blackballed any given candidate.

From Barron's ● Jul. 30, 2026

In an unpublished article titled “Das Kannibal,” Mitchell wrote angrily about being blackballed for speaking out against the war.

From Slate ● Jun. 6, 2025

“I’d been counted out and blackballed, and now it’s happening just like I told y’all,” Peysoh said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 27, 2024

She also said he had subsequently "blackballed" her in the modelling world.

From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2024

If he’s not careful, he’ll be blackballed by his state medical association and kept out of the hospitals.”

From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

And the reason for that compulsive work ethic was her unofficial blackballing by “Tonight Show” host Johnny Carson, for the crime of accepting Fox's offer to host her own talk show.

From Salon ● May 14, 2025

The staffers spoke on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about retaliation or blackballing in the small world of American museums.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 20, 2023

“They face industry blackballing and fewer professional opportunities when they speak out,” Williams said.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 23, 2022

He won a multimillion-dollar settlement in 2019 after he accused the league of blackballing him because of his protests.

From New York Times ● Sep. 13, 2020

Reform Club, Author elected member of, in 1878; "press-gang" at; excitement upon news of Phoenix Park murders; Mr. Chamberlain's brothers blackballed; proposal to abolish blackballing; Mr. Chamberlain resigns membership.

From Memoirs of Sir Wemyss Reid 1842-1885 by Stuart J. (Stuart Johnson) Reid