Last week, the former Chelsea footballer Jorginho made a post on social media claiming that, after his daughter walked past the singer Chappell Roan’s table at a restaurant and smiled at her, a security guard accosted the girl. The security guard apparently spoke “in an extremely aggressive manner”, causing her to be “extremely shaken and [cry] a lot”.
If the story is true, it doesn’t look good for Roan. This wasn’t creepy paparazzi or red carpet hecklers; it was a child. Roan has apologized, adding that the man involved in the incident in São Paulo was not her personal security, and that she didn’t see the girl.
Whatever really happened, the incident raises the question: what do celebrities owe their fans?
Stardom can inspire intrusive behavior from fans. With the internet and social media making the most famous people in the world feel closer to us than ever, these parasocial bonds can quickly morph into harassment and violence.
People become obsessive, and their efforts to be close to their favorite celebrities run the gamut, from following and taunting them in public to even more dangerous behaviours, like stalking and trespassing on private property.
Roan herself has been at the forefront of calling out this bad behaviour. In 2024, she blasted the “predatory behavior” and “harassment” she experienced from fans, and she confronted a red carpet photographer for yelling at her.
She’s right. In the entertainment industry, the price of success is extreme visibility, and the relationship between famous people and the public has always been a fraught dance that weighs the former’s comfort, safety and agency against the demands of a public that has given them their fame.
Much of this comes down to society’s devotion to celebrity and our sense of entitlement to being rewarded for that devotion.
But it’s also true that if a kid can’t be excited to see her favorite celeb, we’ve completely lost the plot.
So what should we reasonably expect from people who, whether they like it or not, have signed up for a life of being constantly and relentlessly observed? The same thing we’d expect from anyone in any other context: humanness. And that means recognizing their responsibility to act with common sense and decency, while also remembering that your favorite celebrity is probably just some guy … a regular person who is fully capable of being exhausted, anxious, rude or even harboring the very chic longing to simply be left alone.
We deify these flawed people, demanding perfection of ordinary individuals with extraordinary jobs. And when they fail to live up to our standards, it can feel particularly cruel. But we can’t acknowledge that without pointing out that it is also a tall ask to be constantly in the spotlight, and told to smile while you’re at it.
Fans have every right to expect basic kindness from the stars they adore and pour their money into supporting, but I’m not naive enough to believe that grace will be unfailing. Whether we like it or not, celebrities are regular people. Kick them off the pedestal and it’s not such a big letdown, is it?