People across these strange wide webs were in a tizzy last week after the utterly immaculate Chappell Roan had the audacity to declare: she doesn’t want you touching her, and she doesn’t owe you shit.
To fully give her quote all its glory, here she is in her own words:
Let me tell you how freaking PROUD I AM.
In any public sphere, people act super weird. Like, I’m terrified for people to know my real name because they don’t know how to act weird. Those People think because you have given some part of yourself to the world, that you owe them the rest of you. I have for years called out this bizarre, predatory behavior: Leave Britney Alone, leave Justin Beiber alone, hell, leave everyone alone.
Artists have been harrassed, slandered, stalked, and even murdered by hyper-obsessed “fans.” We’ve seen it time and time again for decades.
Then Stan culture came along, and as a Person of Cognizant Age when that song actually came out, I was like, hold up y’all, that is not who you wanna emulate. Holy shit. It’s touted as a “positive phrase” in this era but whoa, its origin is dark as fuck- that dude kills himself and his girlfriend over not having a parasocial relationship with a celebrity gratified.
In the words of Charles Miner, “nah, that’s weird.”
Cannot abide. The Dude simply cannot.
And it’s not just music- it’s any art that makes you accessable. The cast of Critical Role is another target of serious parasocial hyperfixation, where people have conflated them being nice and being grateful to those who have made their show superstar status with “we are friends/I have paid your way, you owe me attention, time, and personal space.” The cast members who called out this behavior also received pushback! It’s a wildly slippery slope, trying to be grateful and personable in a world where public perception = personal consumption. It shouldn’t be at all, but here we are.
It is my genuine hope that more artists stand up for their autonomy, and that we can get beyond this hyperfixated culture that has been constructed around the concept of “celebrity.” It’s wonderful to be able to create and share your art with the world- but if you (general) make people feel endangered because of it, and then throw a hissy fit because someone set boundaries and has revoked personal access because of said endangerment, we’ve really got some damned work to do.
Melody K. Writes Words 
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