Chappell Roan Says She’s Voting for Kamala Harris, but “Endorsing and Voting Are Completely Different”
Chappell Roan clarified her comments about not endorsing Kamala Harris in a social media post on Wednesday, telling followers: “Voting is all we have right now.”
Roan said recently she doesn’t “feel pressured to endorse someone,” adding, “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’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.”
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On Tuesday, she said in a video posted to TikTok that she was upset her comments were being taken out of context, with some criticizing her for not encouraging her fan base to vote. “There is nuance to what I say in interviews,” she pointed out. “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.”
Wednesday morning, she further clarified her statements after waking up to more backlash. “Endorsing and voting are completely different,” she said. “I don’t agree with a lot of what is going on with policies — obviously, fuck the policies of the right, but also fuck some of the policies on the left. That’s why I can’t endorse. That’s why I can’t put my entire name in my entire project behind one.”
In the video, she spoke about trans rights, Palestine and “every marginalized community in the world” as some of her tension with the policies of the left.
“There is no way I can stand behind some of the left’s completely transphobic and completely genocidal views,” she said.
She also spoke about the nuances between voting, endorsing and other political action. “Yeah, I’m voting for fucking Kamala, but I’m not settling for what has been offered, because that’s questionable,” she said. “Fuck Trump for fucking real, but fuck some of the shit that has gone down in the Democratic party that has failed people like me and you.”
She added, “If someone is publicly endorsing a political figure, that doesn’t even mean that they’re gonna fucking vote for them. As I said in my other video, actions speak louder than words … This is not me playing both sides. This is me questioning both sides because this is what we have in front of us.”
She continued, “Voting is all we have right now in the system, and so I encourage it yet again: Vote for who in your mind is the best option for what we have because it’s all we can do. And I hope this makes it clear that, no, I’m not picking the sides of what we have right now. Yes, one’s obviously better than the other, but Jesus fucking Christ, I hope you don’t settle for what we have. And put your name behind someone that you don’t fully, fully trust because of their blatant actions.”
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