Boy George has come under fire for suggesting that fellow pop star Chappell Roan should “cheer up” and “own” her fame after a clip of her calling out fans went viral.
Ever since rising to fame, Roan – whose real name is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz – has been outspoken in the face of the "harassment" she has received as a result of her popularity.
She's previously called out "rude" photographers, and this week went viral after filming herself confronting a crowd who had allegedly been following her around in public during Paris Fashion Week.
The clip caught the attention of Culture Club singer Boy George, who has been cited in the past by Roan's team as an inspiration for her bold make-up looks.
On X, the 64-year-old wrote: “It's probably not helpful but I have been doing this fame thing for a while and you learn slowly and painfully that you don't get a free pass once you turn yourself into a bird of paradise. I watched @ChappellRoan filming the paps in Paris and I laughed because I have kicked off at them many times.”
He continued: “The trick is to own your fame. Yes, it's annoying at times but so is being ignored and told you're a ‘has-been’. Life is always now and I think Chappell looks great but cheer up girl. The world is at your feet, stop kicking it! It takes so much more time to say no to a picture or a signature. Boundaries are boring. Break them with the magic of kindness!”
The comments from George – real name George Alan O'Dowd – earned him the ire of the internet, as social media users argued that Roan had every right to assert her boundaries.
“Why is everyone so eager to tell women to just take unwanted attention,” wrote one commenter, while another said: “Why is she supposed to accept abuse just because she's famous? This steers way too close to ‘she asked for it’.”
“When a woman ask to stop being followed a man tells her hey, boundaries are boring. Cheer up while I continue to harass you after you said no! Do you hear yourself?” another comment read.
“You were famous before tabloid culture and social media. That was a very different time,” one follower pointed out.
In the original clip, the “Pink Pony Club” singer was trying to get into a restaurant from her car, where she was met with a group of fans and paparazzi asking for autographs and pictures.
Roan then started filming herself on her phone, telling the camera: “I’m just trying to go to dinner, and I’ve asked these people several times to get away from me.”
Turning the camera on some of the person gathered around her, she said: “This person I’ve asked several times to go away, and they will not… They’re hiding their face, because they’re ashamed.” She added that she felt “disregarded as a human” and that the people were “completely disregarding my boundaries”.
This is the latest example of Roan standing up for herself and her privacy since she reached international renown following the success of her 2023 album The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess.
In 2024, the record was becoming a sleeper hit following her Coachella performance, and the pop star put out a lengthy statement arguing that she would not accept “harassment of any kind” due to her job.
“I chose this career path because I love music and art and honouring my inner child,” she said. “When I’m on stage, when I’m performing, when I’m in drag, when I’m at a work event, when I’m doing press... I am at work. Any other circumstance, I am not in work mode. I am clocked out.”
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