It seems Chappell Roan can’t catch a break. The American pop star, fresh off her set at Lollapalooza Brazil this weekend, isn’t done getting lashings after Brazilian-Italian football player Jorginho claimed that Roan’s security guard had approached his child and his wife “in an extremely aggressive manner” at a São Paulo hotel. Roan has denied knowledge of the incident and asserted that the guard involved was not hers, but critics point out that she already has a history of confronting paparazzi.
According to Jorginho’s Instagram story, his stepdaughter saw Roan at the hotel during breakfast and attempted to get a closer look, but was stopped by a security guard who claimed to be in Roan’s employ. Many on social media were quick to claim that Roan had sent over her security to the child and her mother, that she “hated children” and fans.
Even the new Rio de Janeiro mayor, Eduardo Cavaliere, was enraged by Roan and said she would be banned from playing in the music festival Todo Mundo no Rio “as long as I’m in charge of our city.” He added that Jorginho’s stepdaughter will be a guest of honor at the festival, which Shakira is set to headline in May.
But is everyone freaking out over nothing? On Sunday, March 22, Roan took to social media to share her side of the story. There, she claimed that the guard was “not [her] personal security.”
“No one bothered me. I did not ask the security guard to go up and talk to this mother and child. They did not come up to me. They were not doing anything,” she said in a video posted through her Instagram stories.
The singer-songwriter added, “It’s unfair for security to just assume someone doesn’t have good intentions […] And I do not hate people who are fans of my music. I do not hate children. I’m sorry to the mother and child, that someone was assuming that you would do something. And if you felt uncomfortable, that makes me really sad. You did not deserve that.”
Roan has been criticized for confronting intrusive photographers and “fans,” with some social media users saying she may not be ready for fame. Recently, she drew flak again for filming a group of fans and photographers who had followed her.
“These are all the people that are completely disregarding all of my boundaries,” she said during the incident in Paris, earlier in March. “All of you, I’m asking you kindly to please leave me alone and stop following me and harassing me.”
