Grammy award-winning singer Chappell Roan rose to fame in early 2024 after opening for Olivia Rodrigo’s Guts World Tour and the release of her song “Good Luck, Babe.” She won a Grammy for Best New Artist in 2025 and, during her speech, pleaded for better treatment of new artists in the industry. Roan is outspoken about many things, but she is absolutely uncompromising about not tolerating disrespect from fans and believes she owes them nothing.
Her bluntness is a defense mechanism and boundary-setting approach to protect her well-being.
In early March, Roan spoke out against paparazzi who harassed her in Paris, stating they disregarded her boundaries. In a video, she says, “When you’re disregarded as a human, this is what it’s like. I’m just trying to go to dinner, and I’ve asked these people several times to get away from me.” Last October, she called out a disrespectful photographer at the 2025 Grammys. Roan also called out “predatory fan behavior” during a social media rant and says she believes fans are now scared to approach her.
Now, Roan is in hot water after sending her security guards after an 11-year-old fan, the step-daughter of Brazilian football player Jorginho Frello and daughter of Jude Law, in Brazil. The 11-year-old saw Roan at breakfast and approached her and smiled, not asking for anything, and later, Roan’s security arrived at the child’s table and accused her of harassment. Roan later denied seeing anybody approach her table and insisted she doesn’t hate her fans.
Roan is definitely unapologetic about setting her boundaries, and people hate her for it. It’s the right message, wrong messenger. Celebrity culture and paparazzi are incredibly invasive, and Roan is not in the wrong for setting boundaries with fans. Instead, this is a new norm we should acknowledge going forward.
During her 2024 social media rant, where Roan called out predatory fan behavior, she said she’s at work when “performing on stage, dressed in drag, attending a work event or doing press.” Other times, she’s “clocked out.” This mentality has gotten her into tons of controversy. Fame comes with a price that Roan won’t pay, and many see this as a reason to hate her.
Roan separates herself and her performance persona, which aids her stark feelings on privacy. Chappell Roan is a drag queen persona created by Kayleigh Rose Amstutz. Amstutz is not Roan, and vice versa. She becomes Roan when it’s time to perform, but she isn’t Roan daily.
This separation from self and performer is something people aren’t used to. When an artist blows up, people expect them to give their life to performing and their art, that stars owe this to fans because we gave them fame.
This is called a parasocial relationship, defined as “a one-sided connection between a media user and a media persona,” something magnified by social media. Fans completely disregard boundaries for online content or selfies, and fan behavior has become “increasingly entitled.” Social media has eliminated the “mutually beneficial relationship between [artists] and their fans.”
Maybe Roan could be nicer about it, but she’s right. She doesn’t owe her fans anything, and we shouldn’t expect celebrities to deliver utmost kindness and respect to their fans 24/7. As humans, I’m sure we don’t give utmost kindness and respect to strangers 24/7 either, and Roan is human. Roan told Rolling Stone Magazine, “I chose this career path because I love music and art and honoring my inner child,” and she won’t accept harassment because she’s famous.
Many celebrities have been destroyed and violated by paparazzi and fame as the world watches them burn. Pop star Britney Spears rose to fame during the early 2000s, one of the most invasive eras of paparazzi and gossip blogs. It affected her heavily because she didn’t set boundaries, and it caused her public 2007 breakdown. Paparazzi followed her everywhere nonstop from a young age, and she couldn’t handle it. Who could?
Other celebrities have faced severe outcomes from fan interactions, like Christina Grimmie, a singer and contestant on The Voice, murdered by a fan, reminding us that parasocial relationships can be fatal.
That’s exactly what Roan is trying to avoid by setting boundaries. We feel bad for Spears and Grimmie now, yet condemn Roan for setting boundaries that could save her life.
If you don’t like Roan because of the boundaries she’s set as an artist, you’re hypocritical. Boundaries are and should be stressed in every other aspect of life, and a pop star should be able to set them, too. Roan might be the wrong messenger because of her bluntness, but she’s raising important points about how celebrity culture and invasive paparazzi have become far too normal.
Abby Shriver is a freshman studying journalism at Ohio University. Please note the opinions expressed in this column do not represent those of The Post. Want to talk to Abby about their column? Email/message them at as064024@ohio.edu / @abbyshriver_