Over the summer, Chappell Roan’s popularity exploded, turning her into a pop icon. Known for her songs “HOT TO GO!” and “Good Luck, Babe!”, she has collected such a massive fanbase that she had to upsize stages at Lollapalooza and fans were still shoulder to shoulder. As a result of her newfound fame, Roan is now dealing with privacy issues and felt the need to assert her boundaries with fans. Her statement was met with much praise, but also lots of backlash because many believe that pursuing life as a celebrity eliminates the right to privacy. At the Opinion Section the editors typically try and stay on the same page, but even we don’t agree with each other all the time. This week, the Opinion Editors argue whether celebrities should expect and tolerate breaches of privacy and obsessive fan behavior.
Evelyn Pazan, Associate Opinion Editor: I love Chappell Roan, but if you are seeking the life of a celebrity, you must also know that you are forgoing all rights to privacy. As a celebrity, your entire life is your job, and you must treat it as such. Every celebrity decision, outing and event is carefully planned by a PR team to make the celebrity more money. Celebrities even plan their weddings and baby announcements to be spectacles worthy of news coverage and brand deals.
Particularly if you have a recognizable style or persona, you should expect to be stopped on the street and gushed over at the supermarket. Many celebrities are content politely addressing the paparazzi or signing photos for fans, but others are not so nice when they see fans in everyday situations. The least that can be expected from celebrities is that they respectfully decline to autograph if they aren’t in the mood. There is no need to be rude. Realistically though, to be shocked and bothered when your daily life is interrupted is comparable to creating a Tinder profile and being shocked when people swipe right on you. It’s inevitable.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that Chappell Roan deserves to be stalked and harassed. Nor am I saying that celebrity life can’t be overwhelming at times. What I am saying is that everyone saw it coming. Celebrities’ lives have been overly publicized for years, even before social media. Paparazzi photos can be traced back to as early as the 1950’s when celebrity photographs were published in magazines.
Despite how invasive fans and paparazzi can be, when people become celebrities, they are signing up to have the world follow their every move and discovering their entire life, even the parts that were private before. Expecting privacy is naïve and with social media, things will only get less private from here on out.
Tomas Hinckley, Opinion Editor: There is always some expectation of a loss of privacy upon becoming a celebrity, but that only goes so far. The amount of access we have to the lives of these people has increased exponentially in recent years, and the expectation that there would be no pushback against this development is unrealistic. Social media has allowed people to develop parasocial relationships with public figures like never before, and the consequences of this have been real for many celebrities. Not even mentioning the stalking and harassment of their family, generally people need to be better at understanding that they do not actually know these celebrities and ought to give them more respect as humans and as strangers. Although it’s impossible not to be noticed and to have complete privacy, people can at least give more space sometimes to the celebrities they look up to. It’s kind of like with UConn athletes on campus, to make a local comparison. If you see Paige Bueckers walking down the street going to class or something, let her chill out a little and don’t make a big deal about it. When basketball stuff is happening and you want a picture, then that’s fair game.
There should be a separation between professional and personal lives that people understand, and if Chappell Roan was a little “abrasive” when communicating that, I say good for her. The general public too often believes that celebrities must be the perfectly kind and accepting of all behavior dealt towards them. They’re people too and deserve some grace when they get pissed off or don’t react in the exact right way to every situation which comes their way.