Sign up for The Agenda — Them’s news and politics newsletter, delivered to your inbox every Thursday.
After facing internet backlash for encouraging U.S. voters to use their critical thinking skills, Chappell Roan has taken to TikTok in a series of videos to issue a few clarifications: No, she’s (obviously) not a Trump supporter, and yes, she is voting for Kamala Harris.
This week, the “Hot to Go!” singer posted a pair of videos to set the record straight. In the first, posted Tuesday, Roan attempted to clarify her political views after she was quoted in a Guardian profile as saying she doesn’t “feel pressured to endorse someone” in the 2024 U.S. presidential election because “there’s problems on both sides.” Her comments went viral on X, where they were widely misconstrued as a hint that she is secretly a Republican or equating the two parties.
“There is nuance to what I say in interviews and I think it’s important that people use critical thinking,” Roan said in the Tuesday video. “I think it’s important for me to question authority and question world leaders and question myself, question my algorithm, question if some person that tweeted something about someone else is even true.”
After that video faced its own follow-up wave of online criticism, Roan posted another TikTok on Wednesday, explaining that she’s not directly comparing both sides, she’s critiquing both sides, saying, “I’m critiquing both sides because they’re both so fucked up.”
Roan also clarified once and for all that she’s “voting for fucking Kamala,” but made it clear that she’s also “not settling for what has been offered.”
There has been widespread speculation among Roan’s fandom that she hadn’t provided a full-throated endorsement of Kamala Harris due to the Democratic Party’s role in Israel’s ongoing siege of Palestine. In June, Roan said that she had declined to perform at the White House until there’s “freedom for all oppressed people in occupied territories.” She has also used her merch table as a way of fundraising for Palestinian aid.
TikTok content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
The Wednesday video seemed to confirm that theory with the Midwest Princess saying, “there is no way I can stand behind some of the left’s completely transphobic and completely genocidal views.”
“Fuck Trump for fucking real,” she 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.”
TikTok content
This content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.
“Vote for who in your mind is the best option for what we have right now because it’s all we can do,” she continued. “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 that you don’t fully fully trust because of their blatant actions.”
For now, it seems this could be Roan’s final commentary on the 2024 election. Her caption for the Wednesday video reads: “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.”
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.
