Chappell Roan isn’t afraid of using her voice to enforce her boundaries with the entertainment industry.
At the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday — prior to winning best new artist and performing her hit single “Good Luck, Babe!” — the singer had a heated exchange with paparazzi on the red carpet, telling someone in the group to “shut the f**k up.”
The moment — made even more intense by the outfit she was wearing at the time: a killer vintage medieval gown, vicious sword and pointy metal nails — immediately circulated online with videos of the incident reaching 12 million people on X. In the full video, a person can be heard telling Roan to “shut the f**k up,” to which she responded with her finger aimed at the photographer, “You shut the f**k up!”
Commanding the carpet, the singer added firmly, “No. Not me b***h!”
After the public scolding of the photographer, Roan cleared the air in an interview with Entertainment Tonight, saying, “This is quite overwhelming and quite scary.”
“For someone who gets a lot of anxiety around people yelling at you, the carpet is horrifying and I yelled back. You don’t get to yell at me like that,” she stated.
Recently, the singer has firmly stated her boundaries with the entertainment industry and her fans. Last month, she took to her social media to call out stalking and harassment of her family and herself, telling fans “I’m allowed to say no to creepy behavior, OK?”
She stated, “I don’t care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little famous, whatever. I don’t care that it’s normal. I don’t care that this crazy type of behavior comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen. That does not make it OK, that doesn’t make it normal. That doesn’t mean that I want it, that doesn’t mean that I like it.”
Roan continued, “I don’t want whatever the f**k you think you’re supposed to be entitled to whenever you see a celebrity. I don’t give a f**k if you think it’s selfish of me to say no for a photo or for your time or for a hug. That’s not normal. That’s weird.”
The reception of the singer’s boundaries has polarized some fans, including last night when she yelled back at the photographer. Some fans online dubbed Roan as “not cut out for fame.” Others said, “Can she not be rude to people now like omg we are tired.”
Another person brought up the canceled European dates she was supposed to perform at instead of the VMAs, saying, “Why did she even cancel her shows and show up when she’s gonna act like this?”
However, people like Grammy-nominated singer Noah Kahan have come to Roan’s defense. The singer-songwriter said on X, “I’ll never forget leaving Clive Davis and the horrific s**t photographers and paparazzi or whatever were saying to me in front of my sweet mom who couldn’t believe it was actually happening. Love this @ChappellRoan way to stand up for yourself.”
Another viral tweet defending Roan stated, “Chappell Roan is entering the industry with a sense of self-worth that everybody applauds in other women as long as they endure mistreatment for a decade before developing it.”
Roan is paving the way for young, rising stars to respect their boundaries and live authentically as themselves. She emphasized that in her speech later in the night while receiving her first Moonman statue.
With a large smile, Roan read her speech from her diary: “I dedicate this to all the drag artists who inspire me. I dedicate this to queer and trans people that fuel pop all around. To the gays who dedicate their songs to someone they love or hate. Thank you to the people who are fans who listen to me — who hear me when I share my joys and my fears. Thank you for listening.”
“For all the queer kids in the midwest watching right now, I see you, I understand you, because I’m one of you, and don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you wanna be, b***h,” she concluded with a laugh.
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