By Variety | Created at 2024-09-25 18:20:37 | Updated at 2024-09-30 11:28:26
4 days ago
Chappell Roan has further clarified her position on the 2024 presidential election, taking to TikTok Wednesday morning to issue her second lengthy video statement in less than 24 hours. In the video, the singer now declares that “yeah, I’m voting for fucking Kamala,” and says “fuck Trump, for fucking real” — but makes it clearer than ever that, although she has finally signaled a preference in the election for the first time, she remains enraged at the Democratic party and will not be endorsing either candidate.
In the video, the singer says “there is no way I can stand behind some of the left’s completely transphobic and completely genocidal views. So yeah, there are huge problems on both. You know what is right and wrong and so do I. Fuck Trump for fucking real, 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.” She goes on to say, “I’m not gonna settle for what the options are that are in front of me, and you are not gonna make me feel bad for that. So yeah, I’m voting for fucking Kamala” — mispronouncing Harris’ first name in the same way that Trump does — “but I’m not settling for what has been offered, because that’s questionable.”
The three-and-a-half-minute video starts with the rising pop star rubbing her eyes and saying she “just woke up to people skewing it even more,” presumably referring to social media talk and news coverage of her video statement from the night before. Roan is angry, and animated, as she further defends and clarifies her position, which some have accused of representing “both-sides-ism” rather than taking a stand, ever since the singer told a Guardian reporter she would not endorse because of “problems on both sides.”
As far as Roan is concerned, laying into both parties is taking a stand — although this marks the first time she has said she prefers one candidate over another, however obviously begrudging that preference is. She takes time out in the video to encourage her fans to effectively vote for whoever they see as the lesser of two evils, but Roan is firmer than ever that actually putting her support behind someone is out of the question.
Although Roan makes it clear in the video that she will personally be voting for Harris and not Trump, it is only the Democratic side’s positions that she targets specifically in her statement, claiming that “the left” holds transphobic as well as genocidal views, while not getting into what her issues with Republicans might be.
She again invokes the cause of Palestine, as she had in making statements in June about why she turned down an offer to celebrate Pride month at the White House, after not specifically mentioning the Gaza conflict in her Tuesday night video.
Her full statement: “I just woke up to, like, people just skewing it even more. Endorsing and voting are completely different. I don’t agree with a lot of what is going on with, like, policies. Like, obviously, fuck the policies on the right, but alsoL 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 (side), because there is no way I can stand behind some of the left’s completely transphobic and completely genocidal views. So yeah, there are huge problems on both. You know what is right and wrong and so do I. Fuck Trump for fucking real, 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 gonna put… I’m not gonna settle for what the options are that are in front of me, and you are not gonna make me feel bad for that. So yeah, I’m voting for fucking Kamala, but I’m not settling for what has been offered, because that’s questionable.”
Roan continues, “It’s questionable that our actions of our government, the actions of the internet, the actions of you and me… if this is what you are not understanding. You know what? Endorsing someone, if someone is publicly endorsing a political figure, that doesn’t even mean that they’re gonna fucking vote for them, because as I said in my other video, actions speak louder than words.
“And I’m not gonna let this narrative of, like, me playing both sides… No, no, no, this is not me playing both sides. This is me questioning both sides because this is what we have in front of us. So if you look at my statement, and you’re still like, ‘She’s just playing both sides, like she doesn’t wanna…’ No, you’re not getting it. I am critiquing both sides because they’re both so fucked up.
“Voting is all we have right now in the system, and so I encourage it yet again: Vote for who in your mind is the best option for what we have right now, because it’s all we can do. And I hope this makes it clear that, no, I am not picking the sides of what we have right now.”
Roan concludes: “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.”
“
