With social media nowadays, it is a lot easier and faster to rise to fame in some ways. Blowing up on TikTok by doing “unboxing hauls”, or a song released three years ago becoming a trend out of the blue. After gaining sudden fame, the standards the internet holds for celebrities can be shocking and inconsistent.
In April of 2024, Chappell Roan blew up all over social media with her songs, “Hot To Go,” “Pink Pony Club,” and “Good Luck, Babe!”, making her the image of a lesbian pop star. Other than “Good Luck, Babe!”, all of her songs were released in 2023 or years prior. She was not new to making music in any way, but her recognition hit a new high.
A few months later in August, Roan posted two TikToks addressing the harassment and abuse that she was receiving. Each of these videos received over fifteen million views. Lots of different opinions were being created across the internet. Some fans appreciated her honesty towards not treating celebrities like humans, while others thought Roan was being sensitive and shouldn’t have gone into the industry if she couldn’t handle it.
There’s a time where all musicians get injured (strained vocal cords or even a sprained ankle) or mentally need a break from their performing. There are many examples of this: Rainbow Kitten Surprise canceled many tour dates over the past couple of years for mental health purposes, and Drake postponed three dates to let his ankle injury recover in 2016. At the end of September, Chappell Roan canceled her appearances at the All Things Go Festival in New York. She explained herself in an Instagram post.
There was an uproar over social media about Roan’s situation. More people started saying that Roan couldn’t handle this career and shouldn’t have gone into it in the first place. User @madyyysuuun on TikTok, posted a video with over 600k views voicing she does not feel bad for Roan and that she knew that fame came with these repercussions. There’s disappointment when a highly anticipated show is canceled, but fans were malicious towards Roan about this.
Ensuing Roan going onto Instagram to be apologetic that she was feeling overwhelmed while coming to “sudden fame” needing a few days to prioritize her health, there are still angry people talking about her on all social media. Roan is not the only celebrity that similar events have happened to.
In a different light, Billie Eilish and Doja Cat have experienced this state of affairs as well.
Billie Eilish blew to fame at a much younger age and didn’t have a controversy like Chappell Roan’s. TikTok users are saying that Roan should be more like Eilish, loving and affectionate with her fans. Doja Cat has been compared oppositely, due to her carelessness and criticism towards her fanbase. She would call previous albums “cash grabs” and shame her fans for supporting her passionately.
No matter the situation, these pop stars get criticized and have their entire personality perceived for how they respond to their fans. The way Chappell Roan decided to come to her platform and address her situation made people assume she’s rude, sensitive, and inconsiderate.
According to Roan’s TikToks, “fans” were finding fine details about her life that she was trying to keep private, and felt that they were crossing a line. Approaching TikTok with the style of video that she did, could have been seen as informal and not worth being taken seriously.
A number of other celebrities have addressed similar situations on social media platforms, but the way you do it can affect the response. For example, in 2016 Justin Bieber announced on Instagram he would no longer be taking pictures with people. Overall, Bieber did not get negative reactions from this. Similarly, Keke Palmer told her story on Twitter that after declining a photo with a fan at a bar, they continued to film her without Palmer’s consent. The first part of her tweet read, “No means no, even when it doesn’t pertain to sex.”
Tyler, The Creator is akin to Doja Cat and Chappell Roan in terms of extreme fans.
Last month while talking on Spring Hill, an entertainment Youtube channel, Tyler says “…Because of the internet, people don’t know personal boundaries anymore, and it’s normalized…[but] it’s like ‘we don’t know each other.’” Tyler expresses how it’s weird how “they wanna know who your sister is” and privacy is getting invaded by fans.
Roan was trying to get this exact point across, but not as many viewers understood. Tyler, The Creator is known for being creative and careless with profound language, so no one bats an eye on how and what he says.
Roan being openly lesbian, as well as being candid towards the fan’s actions that made her uncomfortable was bound to get the reaction that it did. Where the world is at right now, there are still a lot of standards for women and the LGBTQ community.
Society and the media have come very far to be equal and understanding of all humans, but it will never be perfect. Old ideals and convention images will always appear, but celebrities are humans too. Such as how interviewers speak to women celebrities and the sexual harassment men and women face for being famous.
Celebrities are the influence of the social world. Children, teens, and adults see some of these singers or actors every single day. Other internet users, more than others, divulge themselves into their careers as if they know them personally. There is a difference between admiring and idolizing someone to ignoring the fact they are a real person.
They have much different lives than most other people, being the money, fame, or talent that most strive for. Do those things make them any less of a human being?
Whether they are a nepotistic baby or self-made, they were once a kid; they got their feelings hurt by a peer, decided to take a break from social media, or cried happy tears. All of these things could seem peculiar to imagine celebrities experiencing, but it’s humanizing them.
Despite what famous people have done, they are humans and deserve to be treated as one.
