Chappell Roan seriously alienated her European fans when she canceled her tour dates in Paris and Amsterdam and rescheduled her date in Berlin. She didn’t cancel because of illness or injury (which fans would still be disappointed about but would also understand); she canceled because she got a better offer: to perform at MTV’s VMAs.
Performing at an award show is a pretty big deal, but choosing to do so without giving fans a proper apology or explanation has left them feeling unappreciated (this news also comes hot on the heels of Chappell criticizing her fans for crossing her boundaries and for engaging in toxic behavior).
They only received an unemotional statement: “Due to scheduling conflicts, I have had to make the extremely hard decision to cancel my Paris and Amsterdam shows. I have rescheduled my Berlin show to 23 September. I am so sorry & very disappointed,” she wrote. “I promise I will be back. I’m heartbroken. thank you for understanding.”
So, with all of this in mind, people were unimpressed when the “Hot To Go!” singer shared a teaser of what we can expect to see during her performance on Sept. 11. Why? This was confirmation that she had ditched her concerts to perform at the VMAs!
Fans react to confirmation that Chappell Roan will perform at the VMAs
Chappell posted just one photo on her Instagram Story. The text onscreen reads, “I am in @vmas rehearsals guys.” She was excited, but her fans were not because they felt Chappell’s actions showed a complete disregard for those who helped make her a star.
We can’t know how they reacted to her Story, but we can see the comments on her Instagram post, and it’s clear there is a lot of anger surrounding this decision.
“Ma’am your explanations do not resolve wasted time, money, and effort your fans lost trying to spend an evening with you,” a frustrated fan wrote. “canceling on your fans to do the vmas instead is an insane move to make but whatever girl,” another wrote.
Other reactions include “putting regular folks out of hundreds of thousands of dollars for plane and hotel fees to instead do the VMAs is so out of touch,” “This girl go huge famous THIS year and is already being a diva?! y’all need to just cancel her and keep her canceled,” and “You need a professional PR team. What a mess.”
Since her VMA announcement on her Instagram Story, Chappell Roan has made two new Instagram posts. The first post was about the themes she intends to use for her shows in Manchester, Glasgow, London, Dublin, and Berlin. While the post inspired some fans, other reactions mention the canceled Paris and Amsterdam shows. “Paris and Amsterdam theme: ghosts, invisible man, time traveler,” a comment reads, which has been liked in agreement over 3,000 times.
The second post is a throwback, with old photos showing her performance outfits and makeup. “just dug this dusty b**** up damn we have come a long way girls,” she captioned the post.
This time, her pictures may have been enough to temporarily distract fans from the canceled shows as they praised her beauty. But fans have long memories and she’s going to have to do some serious legwork to win back trust in Europe after this fiasco.