After backlash, Chappell Roan says she’s voting for Kamala Harris. But no endorsement
Chappell Roan said Wednesday, rather begrudgingly, that she is voting for Kamala Harris for president. But she didn’t endorse her.
The “Hot to Go!” singer made the announcement in a TikTok Wednesday after enduring days of online criticism and heated backlash from fans after she told The Guardian, a British daily newspaper, she didn’t feel pressured to endorse anyone in the presidential election.
Some fans who consider Roan a champion of the LGBTQ+ community were unhappy that she didn’t choose a candidate. She tried to clarify her comments in a TikTok on Tuesday. But when that message didn’t quell the backlash, she posted another message Wednesday criticizing Democrats and Republicans.
”I’m not gonna settle for what the options that are in front of me. And you’re not gonna make me feel bad for that,” a clearly frustrated Roan said. “So yeah, I’m voting for (bleeping) Kamala.”
The Guardian noted the 26-year-old’s political leanings and how money from every ticket sold for her UK tour went to a British LGBTQ+ charity. The Guardian also noted how prints were being sold at her merchandise stands to raise money for aid to Palestine, a community Roan said “is absolutely being destroyed.”
The story reported that in June, while dressed as Lady Liberty at a concert in New York, Roan denounced the Biden-Harris administration for not doing more to defend queer rights against Republican anti-LGBTQ+ legislation.
“I have so many issues with our government in every way,” Roan told The Guardian. “There are so many things that I would want to change. So I don’t feel pressured to endorse someone. There’s problems on both sides.
“I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills, use your vote — vote small, vote for what’s going on in your city.”
Asked what change she wanted to see in the United States this election year, she said, “trans rights. They cannot have cis people making decisions for trans people, period.”
But the part of her comments that went viral was this: “There’s problems on both sides.”
Fans and LGBTQ+ activists online who oppose Donald Trump and have declared their support for Harris slammed her.
Activist Charlotte Clymer, who is transgender, accused Roan of taking a “privileged” stance.
“Harris will be elected and it’s because of the many thousands of staff and volunteers and tens of millions of reasonable adults who understand life under Trump (again) would be horrific for all of us,” Clymer wrote on X.
According to The Washington Post, Harris has opposed state laws that deny transgender people access to bathrooms matching their gender identifies. She and President Joe Biden have also opposed efforts by states to ban gender-affirming therapy.
The Post has also reported that Trump’s second-term agenda concerning transgender identity has alarmed the community.
On the Israel-Hamas war and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Harris said last month she “will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.”
At the same time, she said, “what has happened in Gaza in the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”
In her Tuesday TikTok, Roan said her “problems on both sides” comment was “being completely taken out of context.” She said she wouldn’t vote for Trump but also didn’t say who would get her vote.
“I will always question those in power and those making decisions over other people,” she said. “And I will stand up for what’s right and what I believe in.”
But her attempted clarification led to more backlash, which she tried to rectify Wednesday.
Problematic or passionate fan base?
Guardian columnist Jeffrey Ingold, who did not write the story that caused the drama, defended Roan, writing that it was “refreshing to hear a pop star talk about politics with conviction and nuance.
If only her recent comments had been received that way online.
“While some (X) users supported Roan’s stance, many others called her ‘cowardly,’ criticized her supposedly ‘neutral’ stance, and accused her of being ‘uneducated.’
“The backlash suggests that the majority of those pillorying Roan never read the full interview ... hence Roan hitting out about ‘being completely taken out of context.’”
Roan has had a tough time with some of her fans over the last couple of months. The Missouri native, a member of the LGBTQ+ community, is on a rocket ride to fame at the moment.
In August she performed to a massive crowd at Lollapalooza in Chicago — said to be the festival’s biggest daytime set ever — earning kudos from Katy Perry, Demi Lovato and others.
Earlier this month she won the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist.
She railed last month on TikTok about people stalking and harassing her in public and going so far as to find out where her parents live and work in Missouri. She accused fans of bullying her online, too.
Ingold noted that “many musicians’ fan bases are now often admirably politically conscious and demand stars speak out against injustice, meaning they will make it known if they are unhappy with an artist’s position.
“The difficulty comes when those fans expect stars to fit a particular way of performing their politics.”
Harris’ unexpected entry into the presidential race in early August led to a flood of A-list celebrity endorsements, including one from Taylor Swift — whose fans embraced Harris weeks before the “Shake It Off” publicly backed her.
“Endorsing and voting are completely different,” Roan said on TikTok Wednesday. “I don’t agree with a lot of what is going on with like policies. Like obviously (screw) the policies of the right but also (screw) some of the policies on the left. That’s why I can’t endorse.
“That’s why I can’t like put my entire name and my entire project behind one ... so yeah, there are huge problems on both. You know what is right and wrong and so do I.”
Roan also cautioned fans to understand that “if someone is publicly endorsing a political figure, that doesn’t even mean they’re gonna (bleeping) vote for them. Because as I said in my other video, actions speak louder than words.
“And I’m not gonna let this narrative like me playing both sides ... no no no this is not me playing both sides. This is me questioning both sides because this is what we have in front of us.”
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