Chappell Roan Issues Video Statement Defending Not Endorsing a Presidential Candidate, Reiterates There Are ‘Problems on Both Sides’
After controversy erupted over the weekend about an interview in which Chappell Roan said she would not be taking a side in the 2024 presidential election, the pop star doubled down on her nonpartisan stance in a video statement Tuesday night, declaring she “will stand up for what’s right and what I believe in” — even if that involves declining to favor a candidate.
In the two-and-a-half-minute statement, posted on TikTok, Roan says the social-media tempest over her refusal to endorse Kamala Harris — or any other candidate — misses the “nuance” expressed in her recently published interview with the Guardian, in which she said she could not take a stand on the election because of “problems on both sides.” In response to the brouhaha over that, Roan says: “I’m sorry that you fell for the clickbait.”
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In that controversial article, Roan had indicated that she believes citizens should vote more on the basis of what is happening in their local communities than on national issues, saying: “I have so many issues with our government in every way. There are so many things that I would want to change, so I don’t feel pressured to endorse someone. There is problems on both sides, and I encourage people to use your critical thinking skills. Use your vote. Vote small. Vote for what’s going on in your city.”
Roan also repeated what she said in the Guardian interview about trans rights being at the forefront of her concerns in this election, although she does not specify if she believes those issues are among those that will best be resolved at the local government level.
Roan clarifies in her statement that she will not be voting for Donald Trump, without stating whether she will cast a vote for a Trump opponent.
“I have encouraged people to use critical thinking skills, learn about what they’re voting for, learn about who they’re voting for and ask questions, and it’s being completely taken out of context, per usual,” her statement begins. “There’s nuance to what I say in interviews, and I think it’s important that people use critical thinking. I think it’s important for me to question authority and question world leaders and question myself, question my algorithm, question if some person that tweeted something about someone else is even true. It’s important to question because that’s how I think we move forward.
“This is my third election in voting,” Roan continues, “and the world is changing so rapidly, and I want to be part of the generation that changes things for good because we need it. If you come to my shows, if you read my full interviews, if you literally know anything about me and for what I stand for, you know that this is not lip service, this is not virtue signaling, that my actions have always paved the way for my project and the people who really know me. Actions speak louder than words, and actions speak louder than an endorsement.”
She then reads the passage from the Guardian interview that set off the firestorm, including a passage in which the British newspaper writer reports: “The change she wants to see in the U.S. this election year, she says instantly, is ‘trans rights. They cannot have cis people making decisions for trans people, period.'”
“So hear it from my mouth,” Roan concludes, “if you’re still wondering. No, I’m not voting for Trump, and yes, I will always question those in power and those making decisions over other people. And I will stand up for what’s right and what I believe in, and it’s always at the forefront of my project. And I’m sorry that you fell for the clickbait.”
Roan does not call out any of the problems she sees on the Democratic side, although she has been more specific in the past. Earlier this year, when Joe Biden was still the candidate, she had suggested the administration’s handling of the Palestinian conflict was at the root of her dissatisfaction with the ticket. Roan has not brought up Israel’s actions in Gaza in the video statement or any of her most recent interviews, but many of her fans have defended her non-endorsement of Harris on that basis — while others have expressed upset that she would not stand up for the side that is clearly most sympathetic to LGBTQ and specifically trans rights.
In her June appearance at the Governors Ball festival, Roan announced that she had turned down a request from the White House to perform there in celebration of Pride Month. “We want liberty, justice, and freedom for all,” she told the crowd, as she explained nixing the offer. “When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.” She subsequently told Rolling Stone that she had considered the idea of playing a trick on the administration by going to the White House for the Pride celebration and then reading “some poems from Palestinian women,” before she thought better of the idea.
“It is not so black and white that you hate one and you like the other,” Roan told the magazine. “I’m not going to the White House because I am not going to be a monkey for Pride. … I don’t have a side because I hate both sides, and I’m so embarrassed about everything going on right now.”
In August, Roan was asked if anything had changed now that Harris was the nominee, but she indicated her nonpartisan stance would remain the same, while acknowledging the historicity of the moment. “Right now, it’s more important than ever to use your vote, and I will do whatever it takes to protect people’s civil rights, especially the LGBTQ+ community,” she told the magazine then. “My ethics and values will always align with that, and that hasn’t changed with a different nominee. I feel lucky to be alive during an incredibly historical time period when a woman of color is a presidential nominee.”
The tweetstorm that erupted after Roan’s controversial Guardian statements brought up a multiplicity of opinions for and against her statements, even among her own fans.
“Chappell Roan is an embarrassment to lesbians,” tweeted Maya Luna, the young founder of Progress Libs, in a message with 55,000 likes. “You can’t borrow from drag aesthetics and embrace your sexuality and then pretend the party that would criminalize our happiness is the same as the one who protects it.”
Another tweet with 145,000 likes read: “This is about ten million times worse than Taylor Swift hugging a Trump supporter. ‘Problems on both sides’ is the most cowardly. uneducated and downright embarrassing thing you could possibly say about this election.”
But a defender of Roan and her position got 86,000 likes for quoting the previous accusation and then saying: “Just a reminder that Chappell Roan is the artist who refused to play at the White House for pride bc she didn’t support the US gov’s support of isr**l” (asterisks, the user’s) “and who raises money at her concerts for Palestinian aid. I would think twice before calling her ‘cowardly’ and ‘uneducated.'”
Said another tweet with 37,000 likes, representing a view typical of the pro-Roan position: “All the gay liberals reacting to that Chappell Roan statement… get a life lol. People don’t like seeing babies blown to pieces and then get told that is must happen and that we’ll pay and provide the bombs for it. Take it up with Kamala! No one owes you fealty.”
Roan’s statements on politics are hardly dissuading interest in her music. Her debut album just reached its one-year anniversary on Sunday, with the weekend bringing a new deluxe vinyl edition that is catapulting this week’s sales. Hits Daily Double has estimated that “The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess” will rise to No. 2 next week with a projected 110,000 units in its 52nd week out, not far behind the expected leader, a brand new Future mixtape.
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