A visibly frustrated Chappell Roan clarified her views on the 2024 U.S. presidential race and her dissatisfaction with the political status quo, even as she admitted she would vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in November.
And yet, Roan refuses to endorse the sitting vice president, saying that she won’t put her stamp of approval on policies or positions with which she disagrees.
“Endorsing and voting are completely different,” the pop singer said on TikTok. “I don’t agree with a lot of what is going on with policies. Like, obviously, fuck the policies of the Right, but also, fuck some of the policies on the Left.
“That’s why I can’t endorse. That’s why I can’t put my entire name and my entire project behind one. Because there is no way I can stand behind some of the Left’s completely transphobic and completely genocidal views.”
Roan has been critical of U.S. support of Israel and of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza in response to a Hamas terrorist attack earlier this year. She has also criticized the Biden administration for allowing cisgender people to determine what decisions transgender people are allowed to make about their own lives.
The latter assertion appears to refer to a White House statement regarding Biden’s belief that transgender youth should delay surgical interventions until adulthood — which some LGBTQ advocates and left-wing critics interpreted as condoning state-level efforts to ban such procedures. (The White House eventually partially walked back the comment.)
Roan previously garnered negative attention for comments she made to the U.K. newspaper The Guardian. In the interview, Roan took issue with some of the stances held by the major political parties — especially with respect to Gaza and transgender autonomy — and said she had major problems with both parties and didn’t feel the need to endorse a presidential candidate.
Many — especially on the political Left — interpreted her comments that there were issues on “both sides” as her equating the Republican and Democratic parties as equally problematic. However, Roan had previously made comments that were generally considered positive about the historic nature of Kamala Harris’s candidacy.
The “Good Luck, Babe!” singer posted a TikTok video on Monday responding to the criticism, arguing that her quote had been taken out of context “per usual.” She called on people to “use critical thinking” to determine what they support politically and encouraged them to “question authority and question world leaders.”
“If you come to my shows, if you read my full interviews, if you literally know anything about me and what I stand for, you know that this is not lip service, this is not virtue signaling, that my actions have always paved the way for my project and the people who really know me,” she said. “Actions speak louder than words, and actions speak louder than an endorsement.”
The next day, she followed up with another TikTok post, elaborating more on her views, but also noting that it would be her last riff on the subject.
“If you don’t get what I’m saying from this, it’s a lost cause,” she said. But the “Pink Pony Club” singer, appearing on camera looking as though she had just woken up, also vented frustration at people misunderstanding her nuanced, left-wing critique of the two major political parties in America — or, worse, deliberately misrepresenting her statements to push their own agenda.
She took umbrage that people were accusing her of being a closeted right-winger or trying to straddle the fence without taking a side in the upcoming election.
“Fuck Trump for fucking real,” Roan said. “But fuck some of the shit that has gone down in the Democratic Party that has failed people like me and you, and more so Palestine. And more so every marginalized community in the world. So, no, I’m not going to settle with what the options are in front of me. And you’re not going to make me feel bad about that.
“So, yeah, I’m voting for fucking Kamala,” she continued, mispronouncing the vice president’s name. “But I’m not settling for what is offered, because that’s questionable.”
She then added, “You know what? Endorsing someone — if someone is publicly endorsing a political figure, that doesn’t even mean that they’re going to fucking vote for them. Because as I said in my other video, actions speak louder than words. … This is not me playing both sides. This is me questioning both sides because this is what we have in front of us. … You’re not getting it. This is me critiquing both sides because they’re both fucked up.”
She ended the video by encouraging people to vote.
“Voting is all we have right now in this system,” she said, urging her followers to vote for whichever candidate they think is better.
“I hope this makes it clear that, no, I’m not picking the sides of what we have right now. Yes, one’s obviously better than the other. But Jesus fucking Christ, I hope you don’t settle for what we have, and put your name behind someone you don’t fully, fully trust, because of their blatant actions,” she concluded, a pointed reference to her dissatisfaction with the Biden administration.
Im done talking about it. If you dont get what im saying from this, its a lost cause. And im not forcing you to agree with me. This is my statement. Have a good day
Metro Weekly is no stranger to political endorsements. We've been reporting about them for years. Human Rights Campaign, Victory Fund, Stein Democrats, Log Cabin Republicans.... Plenty of entities make endorsements, and for years we've shared those endorsements with our readers.
Making an endorsement of our own, however, is an exception to the rule. But as an independent publication with no fears of losing government contracts if we don't bow to a powerful candidate, we're comfortable making one. As an advocacy publication speaking to and on behalf of the LGBTQ community, we're little motivated to claim a spurious notion of neutrality, particularly in this election cycle. Today, we are at a colossal crossroads in the American experiment. Metro Weekly wants to make its position at this juncture crystal clear.
A gay Holocaust survivor is comparing former President Donald Trump's autocratic tendencies and propaganda tactics to former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
With the help of her children and grandchildren, the 88-year-old woman, known as Grandma Elli, was able to familiarize herself with TikTok and start posting observations about the upcoming U.S. presidential election.
"I've been around a long time and seen many crises, but never like this one in our country," she said in her first video. "As far as I can see, there's really only one question to answer as we decide who we want for our next president, and that is: Do we want to continue our democracy, civil liberties, and free elections, or do we want a 'wannabe dictator,' by his own words, who will go after our freedoms one by one, dismantle them, and then take vengeance on all who disagreed with him?"
Terryon Thomas, a Queer TikTok creator known as "Mr. Prada," with 4 million followers, has been charged in conjunction with the murder of gay Louisiana therapist William Nicholas Abraham, who was found dead on the side of a Louisiana highway on Sept. 29. Police say Abraham died as a result of blunt-force trauma.
Police in Baton Rouge issued a warrant for Thomas's arrest on Oct. 1 after he allegedly refused to comply with officers during a traffic stop. The arrest warrant claims that the vehicle Thomas was driving -- which had belonged to Abraham -- was reported stolen and that Thomas backed into the officers' car and fled, according to NBC News.
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A visibly frustrated Chappell Roan clarified her views on the 2024 U.S. presidential race and her dissatisfaction with the political status quo, even as she admitted she would vote for Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in November.
And yet, Roan refuses to endorse the sitting vice president, saying that she won’t put her stamp of approval on policies or positions with which she disagrees.
“Endorsing and voting are completely different,” the pop singer said on TikTok. “I don’t agree with a lot of what is going on with policies. Like, obviously, fuck the policies of the Right, but also, fuck some of the policies on the Left.
“That’s why I can’t endorse. That’s why I can’t put my entire name and my entire project behind one. Because there is no way I can stand behind some of the Left’s completely transphobic and completely genocidal views.”
Roan has been critical of U.S. support of Israel and of Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza in response to a Hamas terrorist attack earlier this year. She has also criticized the Biden administration for allowing cisgender people to determine what decisions transgender people are allowed to make about their own lives.
The latter assertion appears to refer to a White House statement regarding Biden’s belief that transgender youth should delay surgical interventions until adulthood — which some LGBTQ advocates and left-wing critics interpreted as condoning state-level efforts to ban such procedures. (The White House eventually partially walked back the comment.)
Roan previously garnered negative attention for comments she made to the U.K. newspaper The Guardian. In the interview, Roan took issue with some of the stances held by the major political parties — especially with respect to Gaza and transgender autonomy — and said she had major problems with both parties and didn’t feel the need to endorse a presidential candidate.
Many — especially on the political Left — interpreted her comments that there were issues on “both sides” as her equating the Republican and Democratic parties as equally problematic. However, Roan had previously made comments that were generally considered positive about the historic nature of Kamala Harris’s candidacy.
The “Good Luck, Babe!” singer posted a TikTok video on Monday responding to the criticism, arguing that her quote had been taken out of context “per usual.” She called on people to “use critical thinking” to determine what they support politically and encouraged them to “question authority and question world leaders.”
“If you come to my shows, if you read my full interviews, if you literally know anything about me and what I stand for, you know that this is not lip service, this is not virtue signaling, that my actions have always paved the way for my project and the people who really know me,” she said. “Actions speak louder than words, and actions speak louder than an endorsement.”
The next day, she followed up with another TikTok post, elaborating more on her views, but also noting that it would be her last riff on the subject.
“If you don’t get what I’m saying from this, it’s a lost cause,” she said. But the “Pink Pony Club” singer, appearing on camera looking as though she had just woken up, also vented frustration at people misunderstanding her nuanced, left-wing critique of the two major political parties in America — or, worse, deliberately misrepresenting her statements to push their own agenda.
She took umbrage that people were accusing her of being a closeted right-winger or trying to straddle the fence without taking a side in the upcoming election.
“Fuck Trump for fucking real,” Roan said. “But fuck some of the shit that has gone down in the Democratic Party that has failed people like me and you, and more so Palestine. And more so every marginalized community in the world. So, no, I’m not going to settle with what the options are in front of me. And you’re not going to make me feel bad about that.
“So, yeah, I’m voting for fucking Kamala,” she continued, mispronouncing the vice president’s name. “But I’m not settling for what is offered, because that’s questionable.”
She then added, “You know what? Endorsing someone — if someone is publicly endorsing a political figure, that doesn’t even mean that they’re going to fucking vote for them. Because as I said in my other video, actions speak louder than words. … This is not me playing both sides. This is me questioning both sides because this is what we have in front of us. … You’re not getting it. This is me critiquing both sides because they’re both fucked up.”
She ended the video by encouraging people to vote.
“Voting is all we have right now in this system,” she said, urging her followers to vote for whichever candidate they think is better.
“I hope this makes it clear that, no, I’m not picking the sides of what we have right now. Yes, one’s obviously better than the other. But Jesus fucking Christ, I hope you don’t settle for what we have, and put your name behind someone you don’t fully, fully trust, because of their blatant actions,” she concluded, a pointed reference to her dissatisfaction with the Biden administration.
Watch Chappel Roan’s full TikTik statement below:
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