Last week, Chappell Roan touched on the 2024 election in a profile by The Guardian. Roan endorsed neither candidate, although her response was measured, so naturally, many of her fans assumed the worst.
Chappell Roan’s 2024 Election Drama
“I’m not voting for Trump,” Roan says in a TikTok clarifying her “controversial” election statements. The hate hurled at her, much of it by her fans, hinged on her not giving Vice President Kamala Harris a full-throated endorsement.
“My actions have always paved the way for my project, and the people who really know me,” Roan says in her TikTok. “Actions speak louder that words, and actions speak louder than an endorsement.”
If these fans actually read the profile, they’ll see that Roan is fairly politically conscious. For every ticket sold during her UK tour, £1 goes to Kaleidoscope Trust, an LGBTQ+ rights charity. Merch stands sold autographed prints with proceeds going to aid Palestinians. When asked about the change she wants to see, Roan didn’t mince words.
“Trans rights,” Roan said. “They cannot have cis people making decisions for trans people, period.”
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This whole situation is yet another episode in the Parasocial Relationships with Pop Stars Show that Roan is now forced to star in. It’s difficult to disagree with her if you listen to her entire defense. Endorsing is not the same as voting.
Endorsing is usually done between political actors, with an agreement that voters are hardly ever privy to. Voting is something you do ever couple of years, both as a civic duty, and because even the most informed of us love to occasionally believe our vote matters in a country where billions are spent by power players who will likely end up shaping decisions anyway.
Unless Harris is going to appoint Roan Pop Tsar, there’s little reason for her to make an endorsement. Especially, if you parsed her latest TikTok which responds to the hate she received in the original TikTok.
Chappell Roan Continues Claps Back…Again
“There is no way I can stand behind some of the left’s completely transphobic, and completely genocidal views,” Roan says. “Fuck Trump, but fuck some of the shit that has gone down in the Democratic Party that has failed people like me and you.”
Roan gives some fairly practical advice, including using critical thinking skills, and voting local. For an ornery old fuck (34) like me, anytime someone gets mad at a celebrity over a perceived political slight, the inner Boomer in me comes out.
If you’re leaning (posting on Twitter or TikTok about a celebrity not endorsing your candidate of choice), you could be cleaning (knocking on doors, making phone calls, or volunteering at a goddamn soup kitchen).
Complaining is cheap, ineffective, and most of all, cringe. Leave the Midwestern Princess alone, especially because she’s 100% correct.