Chappell Roan faced backlash on Monday, December 29 after sharing a tribute to Brigitte Bardot, who died on Sunday at 91-years-old. In the now deleted Instagram story she shared to her eight million Instagram followers, the 27-year-old singer wrote that the late actress was "the inspiration for [my song] red wine supernova." Chappell added: "Rest in peace Ms. Bardot."
The "Pink Pony Club" singer quickly retracted her heartfelt tribute later on Monday after learning about Brigitte's controversial beliefs about the LGBTQ+ community. Chappell deleted the story honoring Brigitte and made another post, writing: "Holy *expletive* I did not know all that insane *expletive* Ms. Bardot stood for obvs I do not condone this. Very disappointing to learn."
Chappell clearly did not know about Brigitte's controversy, as the late model and actress is featured in the first lyric of her hit song, "Red Wine Supernova."
Chappell Roan's controversies
This wasn't the first time Chappell has been embroiled in a contentious online situation. When the singer rose to fame in 2024, she set boundaries with her fans. In a TikTok posted that year, Chappell told her followers: "[I don't give an *expletive* that] abuse and harassment and stalking is a normal thing to do [to famous people.] That does not make it okay."
Responses to the video were mixed. A few months later, Chappell refused to endorse Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 presidential election. After an intense amount of backlash over the comments, she told her TikTok: "Yeah, I'm voting for *expletive* Kamala."
And in March of this year, Chappell landed in hot water after her appearance on Call Her Daddy where she said: "All of my friends who have kids are in hell."
While Chappell is no stranger to controversy, she handled the backlash of her tribute Brigitte swiftly and explicitly. If you're like Chappell and didn't know the full story on Ms. Bardot, here's a quick breakdown of her most controversial moments.
Why was Brigitte Bardot controversial?
The French actress died on Monday, December 29 after a lengthy health battle. The French actress rose to fame in the 1956 film And God Created Women. Two decades later, she retired from acting and devoted her time to animal activism. The latter part of her career is where most of her controversy arose.
Brigitte was fined by the French courts several times for "inciting racial hatred." The most explicit incident was in her book, Le Carre de Pluton. She wrote: "My land is again invaded by an overpopulation of foreigners, especially Muslims."
For her comment, Brigitte was fined 30,000 francs.
The late actress also spread homophobic sentiments. In her 2003 book, Un Cris dans le Silence, Brigitte called the LGBTQ+ community "fairground freaks" and cited them as part of the "destruction" of French culture.
Further, Brigitte called the #MeToo movement "hypocritical, ridiculous and uninteresting” in a January 2018 interview with French magazine Paris Match. "Many actresses flirt with producers to get a role. Then when they tell the story afterward, they say they have been harassed," she continued. "In actual fact, rather than benefit them, it only harms them."
It seems that for these reasons, and many more, Chappell retracted her tribute to Brigitte after her passing.