(Photo courtesy of Cincinnati Enquirer) “Chappell Roan has reached new levels of fame with her recent musical output.”
Jesse Nguyen
Connector Editor
It’s no secret celebrities receive hate. It’s basically part of the terms and conditions of becoming one, where under public scrutiny celebrities are bound to receive backlash, no matter what they do. What I find particularly interesting though is how fans administer hate to these celebrities, what factors are at play when choosing who to hate, and who not to.
Perhaps the biggest and most recent celebrity to receive hate is Chappell Roan, who recently gained popularity in 2023. Her music celebrates queer, feminist culture and has lyrics that inspire joy and authenticity. This, however, isn’t the reason she’s been scrutinized online lately.
Roan has been the subject of hate because of how she responds to harassment. Roan has been outspoken about her experiences with being famous and what it entails. In an interview with The Face, Roan says “I feel like fame is just abusive. The vibe of this – stalking, talking shit online, [people who] won’t leave you alone, yelling at you in public – is the vibe of an abusive ex-husband. That’s what it feels like. I didn’t know it would feel this bad.”
Many people, particularly those on social media, have expressed that they feel Roan is not fit to become a celebrity. Some popular thoughts about Roan I’ve personally seen going around are “she should just retire,” “not cut to be famous,” “why is she always complaining?” And videos of Roan yelling at rude paparazzi have been a subject of controversy, where people again believe she is “doing too much.” At the end of the day, Roan is a human being. The dynamics of celebrities and fans have been so warped in recent years that this simple fact is often forgotten. Roan is not a terrible person for not wanting to endure the harsh realities of being a celebrity.
Similarly, Tom Holland, who is most famously known for playing Spider-Man in the Marvel cinematic universe, has had similar thoughts. On Jay Shettys podcast, Holland says “I really do not like Hollywood, it is not for me… I am always looking for ways to kind of remove myself from it to kind of just live as normal a life as possible.” Holland is essentially saying the same thing Roan says, but nobody really seemed to care or take offense to his feelings. In fact, I noticed this when it comes to male celebrities: nobody really seems to care.
I can immediately think of Pedro Pascal, who was decently popular as Oberyn Martell in “Game of Thrones” but skyrocketed in popularity as The Mandalorian. A huge fan base grew around Pascal, and he unanimously became known as “daddy,” an attractive older man. Which is fine, he is attractive, but there was a point in time where he was asked in every interview about this “daddy” identity of his, and the overt over-sexualization of him just turned into blatant objectification. Pascal is an extremely talented actor, which is something I feel many people overlook in favor of his physical appearance.
Sometimes, however, hard work and talent aren’t the only things overlooked by physical appearance. When it comes to specifically male celebrities, I noticed physical appearance helps mask severe controversies surrounding some of them. Some of my closest friends are completely oblivious to the fact that Brad Pitt had abused Angelina Jolie and their children, or that Henry Cavill dated Tara King, a 19-year-old teenager when he was 32. While the age gap is perfectly legal, it’s still odd in my opinion. Additionally, Cavill has said some controversial things on the #MeToo movement, a social movement against sexual harassment and rape culture. During an interview with GQ Australia, Cavill said “I think a woman should be wooed and chased… It’s very difficult to do that if there are certain rules in place. Because then it’s like: ‘Well, I don’t want to go up and talk to her, because I’m going to be called a rapist or something.”
All my friends who think Cavill is attractive had no prior knowledge about his dating history or that he said this. Funnily enough, I think the only reason people are so aware of Leonardo DiCaprio’s dating history (women under 25) is because he is not as attractive as his younger self. Brad Pitt and Henry Cavill are/were debatably the most attractive men in Hollywood, so its not totally surprising people choose to ignore these details about them. Still, I wish we as consumers were more acutely aware of the people we are supporting. I just see a jarring contrast and an unfortunately common pattern to how we give attractive male celebrities the benefit of the doubt but attack female celebrities for no real reason.
