Halsey defends Chappell Roan following ‘misguided’ Grammys criticism
Chappell Roan's words were branded 'misguided.'
Halsey shared a lengthy message defending Chappell Roan’s Grammys speech on more rights for emerging artists.
The Pink Pony Club singer, 26, used her speech to highlight some of the glaring issues present within the music industry while accepting the gong for best new artist.
Chappell – real name Kayleigh Rose Amstutz – explained that she previously promised herself that if she ever won the coveted prize then she would use the platform to call out vital issues.
She urged labels to invest in younger talent, affording them a liveable wage, and guaranteed health care.
‘Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a liveable wage and health insurance and protection,’ she said before concluding: ‘Labels, we got you. But do you got us?’
The speech sparked a lot of attention, particularly from music executive Jeff Rabhan who wrote an op-ed published in The Hollywood Reporter, in which he branded Chappell’s words as ‘misguided.’
Halsey called out Jeff Rabhan’s comments in an Instagram post (Picture: @halsey/Instagram) Chappell Roan took home the gong for best new artist on Sunday (Picture: Getty Images)Taking to Instagram Stories Halsey, 30, hailed the article as a ‘personal attack.’
‘I hope you’re embarrassed of the absolute personal attack that you’ve ran and disguised as critical journalism,’ she wrote.
Halsey continued: ‘This is so far beneath the standard you should uphold as a publication.
‘An artist like Chappell who has worked for over a decade is not an instant industry insider and to compare the payoff of her actions to those of an industry titan with the power and financial leverage like Taylor Swift, when Chappell hasn’t even spun the block enough times to see the residuals of her long earned but sudden success, is irresponsible for someone with your experience in this industry. Shame on you. Boot licking behaviour.’
The star responded to the op-ed through Instagram (Picture@chappellroan/Instagram)Chappell herself also responded to the backlash, sharing a selfie while giving a shout out to smaller artists following the criticism.
The Good Luck, Babe singer is known for boldly speaking out on LGBTQ+ rights, healthcare, and fan abuse.
A viral encounter at last year’s MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) showed her putting a rude photographer in their place after they shouted out at her as she posed for pictures.
Off camera, the photographer can be heard shouting, ‘Shut the f**k up,’ at the Pink Pony Club hitmaker, but the pop megastar wasn’t going to let him get away with it as she span around, pointed her finger and said: ‘No, you shut the f**k up!’
Then, wearing a queenly floor-length draping mesh brown dress and her long red hair wrapped in ribbons, Chappell added with a flourish of some mega-long nails: ‘No, not me b**ch.’
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