We’ve seen lots of debate about whether it’s possible to separate the art from the artist. But strangely, society often finds forgiveness more easily when the artist is a man.Â
There’s a cycle we see when it comes to female celebrities. A talented young woman is admired, skyrocketed into fame, and publicly celebrated — for a little while. She is put on a pedestal that is virtually impossible for anyone to live up to, and as soon as she slips, the media tears her to pieces.Â
In the music industry, this happens all the time. Take Chappell Roan: after releasing her debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, she rose to stardom, even winning Best New Artist at the 2025 Grammys. She became known as someone who embodies self-acceptance and expression, inspiring queer youth around the world.Â
Roan has always spoken up for herself, setting boundaries when fans formed parasocial relationships with her and calling out major record labels when they exploited artists for profit. I used to see a lot of support for her speech, but recently, there’s been a change.
In March 2026, a soccer player made a social media post about an experience his wife and daughter had with a security guard at a hotel. Apparently, the daughter waved at Chappell Roan, who was eating nearby, and the guard later came up to the family’s table and told them not to “disrespect” the singer again. Understandably, the interaction left a bad taste in their mouth.
Roan publicly apologized to the family on Instagram. She explained that she wasn’t aware this happened and the security guard was not her employee. She didn’t even notice a child waving at her at the hotel.
Despite the event seeming like an innocent misunderstanding, it got plenty of media attention. Jameela Jamil pointed out the irony in an Instagram post, which read, “Shia le bouf, this same week, just got seen SCREAMING at some random woman at a table next to him and it has not made this level of world news. He got 7 articles about it. Chappell got 125 and counting in the past two days.”
This isn’t an isolated incident. In 2016, Angelina Jolie alleged that Brad Pitt abused her during their marriage, and though Pitt admitted to having a drinking problem at the time, federal authorities did not pursue criminal charges after the investigation. Several of the Jolie-Pitt children have since dropped “Pitt” from their last name.Â
Since the couple’s divorce in 2019, Pitt has starred in multiple big picture films, including F1 in 2025 and Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood in 2019, which he won an Academy Award for.Â
Clearly, it wasn’t difficult for Pitt to get back in the spotlight. The media took almost no time to forget about his wife’s allegations of abuse and still-strained relationships with his kids. But when a female celebrity is maybe a little rude to a fan, she gets cancelled.
I’m not saying that Chappell Roan, or any female celebrity, is perfect. For example, I’ve seen plenty of criticism of Taylor Swift over the years, and I’m not mad about all of it. She’s a billionaire whose private jet produces 1,800 times the average human’s annual carbon emissions, which anyone would have trouble justifying.Â
Here’s the part that angers me: the same guys who tell you they “hate Taylor Swift” will tell you their favorite rapper is Kanye West, a known antisemite and misogynist who has publicly supported predators like P. Diddy and Bill Cosby.
The double standard could not be more obvious. There are countless examples of women being torn down for making petty comments while male offenders are defended, forgiven, and even uplifted. So even though I refuse to put anyone on a pedestal, I am going to end with a Taylor Swift quote, because her song “The Man” exemplifies what it means to be a woman in the public eye.Â
As she explained to Vogue, it’s not about how she would do things differently if she were a man, but rather: “If I had made all the same choices, all the same mistakes, all the same accomplishments, how would it read?”