Singer Chappell Roan during a Sunday performance at the Governors Ball Music Festival in New York said that she had turned down an offer to perform at the White House during Pride Month over the Biden administration's handling of Israel's war in Gaza, per The Hill.
“As a response to the White House, who asked me to perform for Pride,” Roan said to audiences at the festival while onstage. “We want liberty, justice and freedom for all. When you do that, that’s when I’ll come.”
The singer-songwriter, who The Hill reported identifies as queer and typically performs as her drag alter ego, was dressed at The Statue of Liberty for her weekend performance. “I am in drag of the biggest queen of all,” Roan said while speaking to the crowd. “But in case you had forgotten what’s etched on my pretty little toes, ‘Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.'
“That means freedom in trans rights,” she added. “That means freedom in women’s rights. And it especially means freedom for all people and oppressed. It especially means freedom for all oppressed people in occupied territories,” garnering cheers from the crowd.
Roan's comments follow an Israeli raid in Gaza over the weekend that freed four hostages previously abducted by Hamas. The operation saw at least 274 Palestinians killed, according to The Associated Press.
