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Fans are rushing to defend Chappell Roan, after a viral video shows the pop star having a less than pleasant encounter with a photographer on the red carpet of the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards.
The singer already made heads turn with her medieval-inspired outfit (complete with a dangerous-looking sword), but she prompted even more chatter when she justifiably stood up for herself while posing for photographs.
In clips of her carpet walk, Roan — who made her debut performance at the ceremony later on in the evening — can be seen being told to “shut the f**k up” after turning away from the cameras. Proving she’s not to be messed with, the “Hot To Go” singer swiftly offered a retort, telling the photographer, “you shut the f**k up. Don’t! Not me, b***h.”
Another photographer can be heard cheering for Roan in the background before quipping “tell ‘em, girl.” It’s not yet known why the unseen photographer yelled the obscenity, but Roan later remarked on the incident in a red carpet interview with Entertainment Tonight. “It’s quite overwhelming and quite scary,” she said of the red carpet experience. I think for someone who gets a lot of anxiety around people yelling at you, the carpet is horrifying.”
Roan added that the photographer “[doesn’t] get to yell at me like that.” Fans are firmly on her side, and promptly headed to social media to share their support for Roan’s response. “She had every right to snap back,” one user wrote on X, adding that “celebrities don’t have to sit there and take it when people are rude to them.”
Another said Roan is “talented enough to be a diva,” while a fellow fan suggested she use the prop sword in retaliation to the photographer. Much to fans’ delight, the remainder of Roan’s night was much more pleasant, with the singer taking to the VMAs stage for a live performance of her smash hit single “Good Luck, Babe!”.
She even went on to take home a trophy, winning the award for Best New Artist and beating out the likes of Teddy Swims and Tyla. Roan dedicated her acceptance speech both to the drag queen community, which inspired her stage name and aesthetic, and to all the “queer kids in the Midwest watching right now.”
The red carpet moment isn’t the first time Roan has made clear her boundaries with members of the public. Last month, she attracted some controversy after sharing a TikTok video demanding more privacy and respect from fans she encounters on the street.
“I’ve been in too many non consensual physical and social interactions,” Roan said in the video. “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.”
Roan’s appearance at the VMAs was itself another source of controversy, after it was revealed that the singer cancelled a slew of shows in order to attend the star-studded event. In any case, this is simply Chappell’s year, we’re just living in it.