Chappell Roan headlined Lollapalooza Brazil the weekend of March 20, and while the performance was a success — with Roan performing her biggest hits from “The Subway” to “Pink Pony Club” — one incident from the weekend has taken over social media. Roan is in hot water after an incident with a young fan and a bodyguard, and the details are kind of all over the place.
On March 21, Brazilian soccer player Jorginho Frello called Chappell Roan out on his Instagram Stories stating that while his wife, Catherine Harding, and their 11-year-old daughter were staying in a hotel in São Paulo to attend Roan’s performance, the two spotted Roan walking by their table during breakfast. He stated, “My daughter, like any child, recognized her, got excited, and just wanted to make sure it was really her.” He continued, “The worst part is she didn’t even approach her. She simply walked past the singer’s table, looked to confirm it was her, smiled, and went back to sit with her mum. She didn’t say anything, didn’t ask for anything.”
Next, Frello claimed, “A large security guard came over to their table while they were still having breakfast and began speaking in an extremely aggressive manner to both my wife and my daughter, saying that she shouldn’t allow my daughter to ‘disrespect’ or ‘harass’ other people.” He continued, “Honestly, I don’t know at what point simply walking past a table and looking to see if someone is there can be considered harassment,” and said that his “11-year-old daughter was sitting there in tears.” To end his message he addressed Roan and her fans directly, stating, “WITHOUT YOUR FANS, YOU WOULD BE NOTHING. AND TO THE FANS, SHE DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR AFFECTION.” Yikes.
Naturally, fans were upset to hear that an 11-year-old child was berated by this security guard, and took to social media to share their opinions. However, many immediately jumped to the conclusion that Roan must have been directly involved despite her not making any public comment on the situation yet. This led to an onslaught of comments demanding that Roan respect her fans.
On Sunday, March 22, Roan posted a response on her own Instagram Stories, in a video explaining that the incident happened with a security guard that was not her personal security. She stated, “I didn’t even see a woman and a child. No one came up to me. No one bothered me.” She continued, “I did not ask the security guard to go up and talk to this mother and child,” and stated, “It’s unfair for security to just assume someone doesn’t have good intentions.” She gave further clarification, stating, “I do not hate people who are fans of my music. I do not hate children. That is crazy.” She ended the video by saying, “I’m sorry to the mother and child. That makes me really sad. You did not deserve that.” To anyone taking Roan at her word, the person to blame here is really this unknown security guard — because according to Roan’s account, the child and her mother did nothing wrong, and it doesn’t sound like Roan did anything to directly provoke this situation, either.
If you think the drama ended there, you’d be mistaken. The child’s mother, Catherine Harding, has now taken to her Instagram to share her side of the story. She stated, “100% the security guard was not a security guard of the hotel. That’s what I can say. He looks after artists. So I don’t know if it was her personal security guard but he was with her, so that is all I know. Did she send him to do it? Again, I don’t know. Look, I would like to hope not, but at the same time I think that you have a responsibility when you are a celebrity to make sure that the people that work for you and act on your behalf are acting on your behalf. So, would he do that if he didn’t have the authority to do so? I don’t know.” The video is six minutes long, so go watch it for the full context, but to summarize, it seems like Harding is not buying that Roan had nothing to do with the security guard’s bad behavior.
This isn’t the first time Roan has been under fire since becoming ultra-famous. She’s been criticized for her handling of fame, and the attention that comes with it.
Whether or not you have a problem with Roan’s approach to fame, it’s a pretty big jump to assume that since she’s not OK with grown men recording her without her consent and getting into her personal space, that this counts as evidence that she must also have sent her security guard to yell at an 11-year-old girl when she saw her walking by and smiling at her. These are two wildly different situations. If she said it’s not her security guard, then speaking as a fan, let’s take her at her word. No one is saying you have to like Chappell Roan, but do you have to attack her relentlessly for something you have no evidence she did?
With all the hate trains we see famous women come under fire for online, there seems to be one common theme: that these women aren’t perfect. It’s women who have had problematic moments in the past, who, yes, shockingly, in all of their many public-facing moments, have not always come off as the most grateful, gracious celebrities on the planet. But can we not have nuance and realize that this doesn’t justify attacking them at any chance we get? Because it seems like people aren’t just getting mad at her anymore, they’re looking for a reason to get mad at her. And seeing how much men in the public eye get away with, it’s hard not to wonder what people’s real intentions are when they are constantly finding reasons to attack outspoken women.