CHAPPELL ROAN CANCELLED – Hollywood Diva? Or Misogyny’s Scapegoat?

In case you’ve been living under a rock, this weekend, Brazilian footballer, Jorginho, posted an Instagram story, calling out Chappell Roan for unfair treatment and aggression towards his 11-year-old daughter. Ever armed with pitchforks, the internet has risen to the occasion and marched on Chappell to demand justice.

According to Jorginho, his daughter – who was staying at the same hotel as Chappell – walked past the singer’s table, just to see if it was really her. She didn’t approach her; she just smiled and sat back down. Chappell then retaliated by sending a ‘large’ security guard to the table to berate this young girl, accusing her of ‘disrespecting’ and ‘harassing’ other people, even threatening to file a complaint with the hotel.

The Mayor of Rio de Janeiro, Eduardo Cavaliere, then jumped on board, posting that ‘as long as [he’s] in charge… Chappell Roan will never perform at Todo Mundo no Rio’ – a series of international music shows that take place on Copacabana Beach. Mind you, Chappell is not even scheduled to perform at Todo Mundo no Rio, so all this achieved was adding further fuel to an already unnecessary fire. Who even invited him to the conversation?

Chappell has previously faced scrutiny for verbally expressing her boundaries against paparazzi and fans approaching her in public, but this, it seems, was the final straw.

Now, let’s talk about what actually happened.

Chappell has since taken to Instagram herself to share her side of the story and revealed that the security guard involved was not a member of her team and she was unaware of the whole situation until it kicked off online.

Jorginho’s daughter was upset, and it was only right for him to want to protect her. However, did he not think to approach Chappell himself and resolve the issue in person? Or message her privately if he was afraid of a similar rebuttal? Or better yet – confront the security guard who was actually responsible? There was no need to make this a public ordeal other than to arrange a hate train power trip against an already ‘controversial’ woman.

Not that I understand why a woman expressing her boundaries is so controversial. People arguing that if Chappell didn’t want the attention, she shouldn’t have become famous, but maybe this level of parasocial behaviour shouldn’t be normalised anyway? We ought to thank Chappell for dismantling a corrupt system. Would you like to be followed by invasive cameras every time you leave the house? Crowded by fans to the point where you can’t move? Selfies with you plastered all over the internet when you weren’t feeling your best? Chappell has expressed countless times how grateful she is for her fans and their support, but that does not make her public property. You like her music. You are not entitled to her attention.

Chappell has still apologised for any upset, which is more than we can expect from Jorginho, Cavaliere, or anyone else who jumped on their bandwagon. I also don’t expect to see them condemning the people who deserve it because men only care about justice when it concerns them (except they won’t take any action themselves; they’ll just post about it online and have other people do the work for them).

I would love to live in a world where the worst thing that happens is a woman setting her boundaries, but unfortunately that’s not the case. So, do we act like it is? 

Because in a man’s world, a misogynist is the easiest thing you can be.