My point still stands, though for any amount of figurative-ness. That's the point. The author had an experience which amounted to a terrible year, after admitting some terrible misdoings. Almost everyone had a terrible 2020 regardless of their past, and employers fire people from jobs for much more tenuous reasons than what the author admitted to.

Homosexuals, African Americans, other minorites, etc. have their lives taken from them literally and figuratively just for being who they are, along with jobs and future prospects, so we can be spared the pity party here.

That's the perspective that those banging on about cancel culture here are lacking.