The midwestern princess has gotten herself in another controversial case, and this time around, people are not jumping up to defend the pop star or her reign of subjects. Whenever it concerns her behavior towards her fans, her outfit choices, and her brand deals, the media has had its fair share of opinions regarding singer Chappell Roan.
On March 21, a security guard who claimed to be a part of Chappell Roan’s security approached civilian Jude Law’s daughter after she walked by Roan’s table, giving her a quick smile. The security guard ended up yelling at Law’s daughter and her former partner to “respect people’s boundaries with the public.” The incident left Law’s daughter in tears, and her stepfather, famous soccer star Jorginho, took to social media to rant about the matter. He took his anger out on the interaction on Instagram by writing a post that was aimed at Roan for her “rude” encounter.
The post sparked a plethora of attention regarding Roan and her behavior towards the public and her fans. Some comments about the matter compared her to the Queen of Hearts from the 2010s version of Alice in Wonderland, and the attention divided many users online, considering whether the singer was right or wrong. Many of Roan’s fans have stated in the past that she’s “iconic” for speaking out to the press, but I fear Roan’s crown is slipping away from that matter.
This isn’t the first time Roan has sparked attention in the media. The media seems to pick and choose their thoughts regarding Roan in either of two ways: on one side, she’s a celebrity who seems to be overwhelmed with the fame and attention she’s receiving, and on the other side, she’s acting as if her fans owe her.
“I like her as a musician, but not as a person,” said FCHS senior Ladashia Tinsley.
In the past, Roan has called out paparazzi for yelling at her and being rude towards her or other celebrities. Having boundaries is not a bad thing, and, as a matter of fact, it’s quite healthy that she has established those boundaries while being in the celebrity limelight. The issue is that because she established these boundaries, it seems like she uses them to be rude to her fans in public. In the opening line of “Maria” by Justin Bieber, a reporter is talking to Bieber about the rumors that he’d been facing regarding if he fathered a child. The line “This is what comes along with life in the fast lane, as they say,” is what Roan is facing right now.
Another example of Roan’s controversies concerns the outfits that she wears at award shows, which often catch a lot of attention, both positive and negative. For example, when she attended Paris Fashion Week in March, she went to a very popular restaurant where the paparazzi and one of her fans held up a pen and paper for an autograph. Roan took the opportunity to start filming the incident with the paparazzi, but then turned the camera towards the fan and accused the fan of following her around. Judging by how confused the fan looked at the situation, it seemed like the fan probably just wanted her autograph, but ended up getting humiliated by the musician. Many of Roan’s fans came quickly to her defense, saying she was “iconic,” but I thought she just came across as mean.
In regard to the March 21 incident with Jude Law’s daughter, Roan released a statement saying she didn’t even notice a mother and a daughter looking at her. She also said she was unaware of what the security guard had done, and that he wasn’t even a part of her security team. Even the security guard later admitted that what he did was wrong.
“I take full responsibility for the interactions on March 21st. I was at the hotel on behalf of another individual, and I was not part of the personal security team of Chappell Roan,” wrote the security guard.
Meanwhile, the girl’s stepfather, Jorginho, later posted an apology on Instagram, withdrawing his earlier criticisms of Roan and explaining the situation. “It became clear that [Roan] had no knowledge of what took place at breakfast and had not asked anyone to approach them. She was understanding and sympathetic to what happened to our child,” he wrote in his post.
But that wasn’t enough to squash the drama. Subsequent to the March 21 incident, the mayor of Brazil banned Roan from performing at Brazil’s Lollapalooza. On top of that, Roan attended the “Hannah Montana” 20th anniversary and said to Miley Cyrus, “she walked so I could run,” sparking debate about whether “Hannah Montana” influenced other artists. Even artists like singer Lionel Richey responded to the Roan incident, saying that without fans, music artists would be nothing. To make things worse, Roan lied about growing up poor, as she actually came from a family of wealthy politicians, and even went to a Grammy camp when she was younger.
I feel like what’s happening to Roan is a bit of a reality check on her part, and she has been acting like a puppet for her PR team. In the beginning, many people were on board with Roan’s attitude towards the paparazzi, supporting her for speaking out and asking for respect for her privacy. But the only reason she wanted people to respect her privacy was that she didn’t get out of the mud, but the golf course. I feel like she didn’t understand how being a celebrity would be so taxing on her mental health, but I also feel that if you chased this dream for so long, you should be proud of the achievements that you made with the help of your fans.
So does Roan deserve the bad press? The answer is simply “no.” The media has always treated men quite differently from how they treat women in the industry. Singer Adam Levine pushed off a fan at a concert once because the fan had gotten on stage and tried to hug him, and the media said he had every right to do that because it involved personal space. Yet when singer and actor Cynthia Erivo pushed a reporter away from Ariana Grande, the media made it look like Cynthia was being rude or aggressive.
“I do think it’s very misogynistic to see how the internet’s been acting towards [Roan], because if a male celebrity did the same thing, they would be praising him,” said FCHS junior Lief Lines.
