Chappell Roan is not afraid to use her voice to push her boundaries in the entertainment industry.
At the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday – before she accepted the Best New Artist award and sang her hit single “Good Luck, Babe!” – the singer had a heated exchange with the paparazzi on the red carpet, telling one of the group to “shut the f*** up.”
The moment – made all the more intense by the outfit she was wearing at the time: a stunning vintage medieval dress, a vicious sword and sharp metal nails – immediately circulated online, with videos of the incident reaching 12 million people on X. Throughout the video, one person can be heard telling Roan to “shut the f*** up,” after which she pointed her finger at the photographer: “Shut the f*** up!”
The singer ordered the audience to step onto the carpet, adding firmly: “No. Not me, bitch!”
After the photographer’s public scolding, Roan clarified the matter in an interview with Entertainment Tonight: “It’s pretty overwhelming and pretty scary.”
“For someone who is very afraid of people shouting at them, the carpet is horrific and I shouted back. They have no right to shout at me like that,” she explained.
Recently, the singer has made her boundaries clear with the entertainment industry and her fans. Last month, she took to social media to denounce stalking and harassment of her family and herself, telling her fans, “I’m allowed to say no to creepy behavior, OK?”
She explained: “I don’t care that abuse and harassment and stalking and so on is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little bit famous, whatever. I don’t care that it’s normal. I don’t care that this crazy behavior comes with the job, the career field that I’ve chosen. That doesn’t make it OK, that doesn’t make it normal. That doesn’t mean I want it, that doesn’t mean I like it.”
Roan continued, “I don’t want whatever you think you’re entitled to when you see a celebrity. I don’t give a shit if you think it’s selfish of me to say no when I want a photo or your time or a hug. That’s not normal. That’s weird.”
The singer’s response to her boundaries has polarized some fans, including last night when she yelled at the photographer. Some fans online called Roan “not made for fame.” Others said, “Can’t she be rude to people now, like, oh my god, we’re tired.”
Another person brought up the canceled European dates where she was supposed to perform instead of the VMAs, saying, “Why did she even cancel her shows and still show up if she’s acting like that?”
However, people like Grammy-nominated singer Noah Kahan have come to Roan’s aid. The singer-songwriter said on X: “I will never forget leaving Clive Davis and the horrible sh*t photographers and paparazzi or whatever said to me in front of my sweet mother who couldn’t believe it was actually happening. I love this way @ChappellRoan stands up for herself.”
Another tweet that circulated online defending Roan said: “Chappell Roan enters the industry with a self-esteem that everyone admires in other women, as long as they endure a decade of abuse before developing that self-esteem.”
Roan is paving the way for young, aspiring stars to respect their boundaries and live authentically as they are, something she emphasized later that evening in her speech when she accepted her first Moonman statue.
With a big smile, Roan read her speech from her diary: “I dedicate this to all the drag artists who inspire me. I dedicate this to the queer and trans people who power pop music. To the gay people who dedicate their songs to someone they love or hate. Thank you to the people who are fans and who listen to me – who listen to me share my joys and fears. Thank you for listening.”
“To all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now: I see you, I get you, because I’m one of you, and don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly the person you want to be, bitch,” she concluded with a laugh.
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