Modern Witch Hunts and the Burning of Chappell Roan at the Stake

In spite of escalating tensions precipitated by the US-Israel War on Iran, the second most-discussed event on March 21st 2026 was Chappell Roan’s alleged cattiness at her hotel breakfast. Taking to Instagram, Brazilian football player Jorginho Frello posted a public statement claiming that Roan’s security team had acted “aggressively” towards his 11-year- old stepdaughter after spotting Roan at a hotel in São Paulo, leaving her “shaken” and “in tears.” “Without your fans, you would be nobody. And to the fans, she does not deserve your affection”, wrote Frello. 

Roan responded to the statement in a candid video on her Instagram story, stating that she had no knowledge of the incident. She claimed that the security was, in fact, not her personal staff, and she “didn’t see a woman and child”. Despite the fact that the incident was a mere misunderstanding, with Frello even retracting his accusation, his statement summoned a firestorm of outrage on social media, with Roan being publicly labelled as Hollywood’s “biggest bitch”, the  “most difficult celebrity”, and a “diva”. Even Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere, of Rio de Janeiro, felt the need to weigh in, condemning Roan on X: “As long as I’m in charge of our city - this young lady (@ChappellRoan) will never perform at Todo Mundo no Rio!”. It is of note that Cavaliere has, as of penning this piece, yet to issue any denunciation of other public figures, even those by the likes of Chris Brown, who is due to face trial in October 2026 for ongoing assault charges, and whose 2024 11:11 Tour culminated in São Paulo. 

Within the microcosm of digital rag outlets, Chappell Roan’s “Breakfast-Gate” becomes the symbolic arena where cultural and societal misogyny play out. What began as unremarkable celebrity gossip quickly snowballed into a smear against the female singer, and the story of a pop-star, a security guard, and a football player’s shaken 11-year-old step-daughter metamorphosed into a political proxy war symptomatic of a digital climate of bigotry.  

Indeed, the particular narrative of a diva pop star capable of making children cry was able to incite such outrage because of what Roan represents. She is a successful woman in a male-dominated industry; openly a lesbian; an out-spoken activist in favour of trans-rights, Palestine, and other human rights abuses; and perhaps most damning of all, critical of the ‘hells’ of young motherhood. This, alongside having previously stood her ground against invasive paparazzi, ‘parasocial’ fans, and stalkers, has created a reputation primed for criticism; Frello’s accusation, therefore, did not seem too far-fetched for she was already regarded by the public as ‘ungrateful’ for her success. 

Put differently, Roan embodies what feminist theorists deem ‘pariah femininity.’ Her deviance from patriarchal expectations of women as compliant, subordinate, or passive is not merely socially undesirable but assumed to contaminate her. Not only has she achieved fame and visibility – an enviable trait for many – but she has, to the public’s dismay, the audacity to refuse any self-abnegation or entitlement towards her accessibility. In rejecting the feminine passivity and quiet humility demanded of her by fans or the press, she becomes derogatorily personified as a bitch, a diva, and a lesbian who clearly lacks any maternal instinct – all characteristics which demand severe social sanction. 

Thus, the type of critique levelled against Roan is rooted in a particular homophobic misogyny and is in essence about control, reflecting a powerful cultural reflex to regulate and reinforce femininity and gender norms. Asserting boundaries and consent become tantrums, and demanding privacy is being spoiled. In this modern witch-hunt, smears of public figures like Roan are made an example of, ultimately trickling down the cultural zeitgeist as a cautionary tale to all women who fail to conform. 

What’s more is that misogyny sells – it is the very grease between the wheels that keeps digital rag outlets churning. As the “stock and trade of the tabloid press”, there is a financial and capitalist incentive to drive readership and web traffic, and what better way than through the commercialisation of pre-existing prejudice. The Daily Mail, for example, has since published upwards of 20 articles on Roan, including the now rescinded tweet by Jacquelynn Powers, stating: “The bitch beneath the makeup”. 

Powers, therefore, plays into the cultural and heavily gendered ideas of the word ‘bitch’, carefully reproducing the narrative of a malicious, nagging woman. In perpetuating this narrative of Roan (and indeed other female celebrities), massive media corporations are not only able to continually monetise her image, but also undermine the credibility of her social activism which itself threatens these firms and their broader oligarchic entertainment milieu.

Uncovering the root of this global smear campaign, moreover, reveals a much more insidious picture. In a report conducted by AI-driven behavioural intelligence platform Gudea, it is estimated that approximately 23% of the posts fuelling the misogynistic discourse were authored by bots, which simulated human behaviour prompting “intense personal attacks… boycotts, and [the spreading of] misinformation”. In fact, Roan is not the sole victim of a bot-fuelled online attack, with similar coordinated campaigns having previously been levied against Taylor Swift, Blake Lively, and Amber Heard. Whilst the source of the bot-farms of Breakfast-Gate are still unknown, what is clear is that the excessive blowback is not solely imputed to the mindless cogs of misogyny, but rather a concentrated and coordinated effort to engineer public sentiment. Where existing feelings of bigotry are continuously exploited by bad actors, this certainly creates unsettling implications about the confidence we have about information and democracy. 

While on the face of it, this may appear as unremarkable pop culture gossip that will soon blow over, the pattern of online misogyny against female celebrities is something far graver. This witch-hunt against Chappell Roan is, therefore, underwritten by patriarchal power and control. Its influence over culture, society, politics, and even our democracies ought not to be understated.

Image: Flickr/Raph_PH

Licence.

No image changes made.