Chappell Roan speaks out on altercation on VMAs 2024 red carpet

Chappell Roan has detailed what led to her red-carpet altercation with the paparazzi at MTV’s Video Music Awards (VMAs 2024), explaining that she’s “not going to be a sweetie pie to a man who’s telling me to ‘shut the f*** up’.”

Roan – who won her first “Moonman” for Best New Artist at the VMAs 2024 – had a controversial appearance on the red carpet after a “horrifying” run-in with the paparazzi at the music awards event.  

Following the release of her initially little-known debut album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess last September, the rising star has since seen the album – and herself – gaining international recognition and reaching the Number One spot on the UK Albums Chart almost one year after its release. 

Given the string of “disturbing incidents” which recently prompted the “Pink Pony Club” singer to share a series of videos and statements on her boundaries regarding fans, it’s understandable that the singer is also unwilling to accept “scary” behaviour from photographers. 

When the “Good Luck, Babe!” hitmaker landed on the red carpet on 11 September, before her stellar performance at the VMAs, a photographer was captured in a viral video reportedly telling Roan to “shut the f*** up”. In response, she pointed at the photographer and said: “No, you shut the f*** up. Don’t! Not me, b***.”

Now, speaking out about the incident, Roan said that she’s not complaining about her success, but rather the “abuse” that is normalised in the music and entertainment industry. 

The singer told The Guardian: “I’m very turned off by the celebrity of it all. Some girls have been in this so long that they’re used to that, but I’m not that girl. I’m not gonna be a sweetie pie to a man who’s telling me to ‘shut the f*** up’.

“They think I’m complaining about my success. I’m complaining about being abused,” Roan concluded.