Chappel Roan on the White House

Beloved lesbian pop artist and indie darling Chappel Roan chose not to read pro-Palestine poems at the Governor’s Ball this June from fear of government retaliation.

“’You fuck with the president and the government, your security is not the same, and neither is your family’s,’” her publicist reportedly said when she discussed using her attendance at the Governor’s Ball as an opportunity to prostest. Instead, she opted not to go.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Roan discussed her experience of going viral, her desires to stand with Palestine, and the community in pop music that she has encountered since her rise to fame. When the White House asked Roan to perform at their Pride event in June, she refused, saying about the coveted invite to the Governor’s Ball, “We want liberty, justice, and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”

Following her refusal, some people on social media misread her message. Some fans on TikTok accused her of being pro-Trump. She made clear that her politics contained more ambiguity. “It is not so black and white that you hate one and like the other,” she says. She emphasized a general distrust in the state of politics of the then Biden campaign.

“’’I’m pretty, ‘Fuck the government, and fuck everything that’s going on right now’… I don’t have a side because I hate both sides,” she says.

Though Roan refused Biden’s invite to the White House, her music and image have become a part of Kamala Harris’ campaign. Her song “Femininomenon” has appeared on Harris t-shirts, and “Good Luck, Babe!” was used as the Missouri delegation’s roll call at the Democratic National Convention. She says that she will do whatever it takes to protect people’s civil right’s.

“’I feel lucky to be alive in an incredibly historical time period when a woman of color is a presidential nominee,’” she says about the connection.

Photo courtesy of social media