AVELLINO: Chappell Roan's views should not be taken 'to go'
Not every celebrity can perfectly navigate the tricky world of politics. There is a balancing act every celebrity has to perform between wanting to keep as many fans as happy as possible, and wanting to say what is on their mind. It is a complicated game and rarely do even the most media-savvy celebrities get it right.
Chappell Roan is not the most media-savvy.
On September 20, The Guardian interviewed the Midwest Princess on a wide range of topics. Eventually, the interview turned to Roan's politics, and she was asked about endorsing a presidential candidate:
"I have so many issues with our government in every way," she says. "There are so many things that I would want to change. So I don't feel pressured to endorse someone. There's problems on both sides…" The change she wants to see in the U.S. in this election year, she says instantly, is "trans rights. They cannot have cis people making decisions for trans people, period."
Roan, whose performances heavily draw from drag culture and whose songs challenge compulsory heterosexuality, got a lot of uproar from fans over this quote. Is it irrelevant that one candidate is significantly better than the other on her top issue? After a record-breaking year for anti-trans legislation from Republicans, is it not strange to be "both sides-ing" this issue?
After a few days, Roan posted a follow-up video to her TikTok, which only made things weirder. Roan stated definitively that she would not be voting for Trump and would be "(questioning) those in power and those making decisions over other people."
This was after a lot of vague sentiments about "actions speak(ing) louder than words," without telling us what her actions will be come November, and claims that she "want(s) to be part of the generation that changes things for good," without telling us what those changes should be.
I was not the only one left unsatisfied with her vague conjectures and half-declarations of principles. The next day, she posted a second video, which was a complete word salad.
Roan said, "If someone is publicly endorsing a political figure, that doesn't even mean they're gonna f*cking vote for them." That is exactly what that means.
She added, "I'm not gonna settle for what the options (are) in front of me … So yeah, I'm voting for f*cking Kamala." That is settling for the options in front of you.
Roan said, "I'm not picking sides of what we have right now … Yes, one's obviously better than the other." That is picking a side.
And on and on and on. To put it plainly, this video drove me crazy.
Chappell Roan is like a lot of young, nominally left-wing voters. Her politics certainly seem progressive: pro-trans rights, pro-Palestine, etc. But she also has a vague understanding that things are going wrong in this country and does not know who is responsible for it. This leads her to make bizarre claims about the "Left's transphobic views." Huh? Which views? Which policies?
Roan is 26 years old. She is not some kid who does not know any better. She used to live in Missouri, a state controlled by Republicans that is among the worst in the country. She also lived as an adult under four years of former President Donald J. Trump, who was an unmitigated disaster on her number one issue. She should know exactly what Republican rule means for trans rights or abortion.
Roan could research and find out which politicians are the ones "making decisions over other people" like she insists she does, but that might lead her to some lame conclusions like "The Democratic Party is better than the Republican Party." So she will not.
I have heard this kind of "do your own research" rhetoric from people before. It usually comes from two camps: unabashed conservatives and fence-sitters. Coming from the former, it is usually an excuse to peddle conspiracy theories. But I do not think Chappell Roan is a conservative.
I do think that Roan has a Republican State Representative uncle whom she does not want to unduly attack by going too hard on Republicans. I also think that Roan enjoys the feelings of moral superiority that come with attacking all sides. And I think that Roan enjoys the comfortability of not having to really learn about politics and make definitive statements about where she stands, to her fans or to herself.
And that, I think, is the greatest irony of this episode. If she had simply said "I do not feel comfortable influencing my fans' politics so I will not endorse a candidate, thank you," I do not think Roan would have gotten nearly as much backlash as she did. Certainly, she would get some, but I think that is an appropriate path to take.
But Chappell Roan, like a lot of young progressives, wants to have her cake and eat it, too. She wants to feel confident in her left-wing views about marginalized communities, a woman's right to choose and Palestinians' right to peace. And she wants to feel smart and morally superior in her anti-establishment views that all sides are equally bad. But she cannot have both and neither can you.
You have to choose a side.
Noble Avellino is a senior in the School of Arts and Sciences majoring in economics and minoring in political science. Avellino’s column, “Noble’s Advocate,” runs on Mondays.
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