Chappell Roan has doubled down on her recent comments about fans’ behaviour towards her since her meteoric rise to fame.
The Red Wine Supernova singer shared two candid videos on TikTok last week, in which she highlighted some of the treatment she’s been subjected to while out in public in recent history.
“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,” she said.
“I don’t care that it’s normal. I don’t care that this crazy type of behaviour comes along with the job, the career field I’ve chosen. That does not make it OK, that doesn’t make it normal. It doesn’t mean I want it. It doesn’t mean that I like it.
“I don’t want whatever the fuck you think you’re supposed to be entitled to whenever you see a celebrity. I don’t give a fuck 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, it’s weird how people think that you know a person just ’cause you see them online and you listen to the art they make. That’s fucking weird.”
“I’m allowed to say no to creepy behaviour, OK?” she concluded.
Chappell’s comments led to more widespread discussion online, which she addressed more in an Instagram post uploaded over the weekend.
“For the past 10 years l’ve been going nonstop to build my project and it’s come to the point that I need to draw lines and set boundaries,” the chart-topping star explained.
“I want to be an artist for a very very long time. I’ve been in too many non-consensual physical and social interactions and I just need to lay it out and remind you, women don’t owe you shit. I chose this career path because I love music and art and honoring my inner child, I do not accept harassment of any kind because I chose this path, nor do I deserve it.”
Chappell went on to say that when she’s not working, she’s “clocked out”, and therefore doesn’t “owe a mutual exchange of energy, time, or attention to people I do not know, do not trust, or who creep me out – just because they’re expressing admiration”.
“Women do not owe you a reason why they don’t want to be touched or talked to,” she insisted. “This has nothing to do with the gratitude and love I feel for my community, for the people who respect my boundaries, and for the love I feel from every person who lifts me up and has stuck with me to help the project get to where it is now.”
She continued: “I am specifically talking about predatory behavior (disguised as ‘superfan’ behavior) that has become normalised because of the way women who are well-known have been treated in the past.
“Please do not assume you know a lot about someone’s life, personality, and boundaries because you are familiar with them or their work online.”
“It is not the woman’s duty to suck it up and take it; it is the harasser’s duty to be a decent person, leave her alone, and respect that she can wear whatever she wants and still deserve peace in this world,” a “tired and scared” Chappell added, while also asking not to be referred to by her legal name, rather than her stage name, by fans or the media.
She concluded: “I feel the most unsafe I have ever felt in my life. There is a part of myself that I save just for my project and all of you. There is a part of myself that is just for me, and I don’t want that taken away from me.”
Meanwhile, the singer also pointed out in her post’s caption that she’d turned off her comments as “this isn’t a group conversation”.
“I understand that this is jarring to hear from a person in my position. I’m not afraid of the consequences for demanding respect. Just to let you know, every woman is feeling or has felt similar to what I’m experiencing,” she wrote.
“This isn’t a new situation. If you see me as a bitch or ungrateful or my entire statement upsets you, baby that’s you… you gotta look inward and ask yourself ‘wait why am I so upset by this? Why is a girl expressing her fears and boundaries so infuriating?’. That is all.”
Last month, the American star said she had “pumped the brakes” on certain aspects of her career, as the result of certain fans giving “stalker vibes”.
“People have started to be freaks – like, [they] follow me and know where my parents live, and where my sister works. All this weird shit,” she shared.