Did Lionel Richie Shade Chappell Roan With Recent Comments About Fame?
Several days after Chappell Roan landed in hot water for an alleged incident with a young fan, Lionel Richie spoke about fame. Richie, who has been in the public eye for decades, said he doesn’t think that people should seek out fame if they’re not prepared for it. He believes they owe it to their fans to be kind.
Chappell Roan landed in hot water for an encounter with a young fan
Chappell Roan recently found herself at the center of a social media controversy. Brazilian soccer player Jorginho Frello made a post about her. In it, he claimed that Roan sent a security guard to scold his 11-year-old stepdaughter after she walked over to the pop star’s table at a hotel.
Roan denied that this happened, noting that she never saw the child. Her mother, Catherine Harding, then responded to Roan’s video.
“I know that Chappell has responded saying that it wasn’t her security, and she didn’t do it,” she said. “So, 100% this security guard was not a security guard of the hotel, that’s what I can say. He looks after artists. So I don’t know if it was her personal security guard, but he was with her, so that is all I know.”
Roan has previously been vocal about setting boundaries with fans and media sources.
Lionel Richie made comments about fame
Not long after the incident with Roan, Richie made comments about fame. In a conversation on the Artist Friendly with Joel Madden podcast, Richie said that success required “sacrifices.”
“I hope you like people,” he said. “Because if you don’t like people, here’s how it’s going to sound. You spend the first half of your career going, ‘Look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me, look at me.’ And then you finally get famous. ‘Don’t look at me.’”
He said he thinks that famous people have to engage with their fans.
“Oh, you want to be famous and rich without the people? It doesn’t work like that,” he said. “You have to be able to engage.”
He noted that fans are typically nervous about approaching their idols. Richie doesn’t want to make them regret their decision to talk to him.
“There’s an old expression I have: Sometimes you meet the person you idolize the most, and you’re sorry you met them,” he said. “I made a promise to myself, I’m never going to be that. Never.”
A security guard took responsibility for the Chappell Roan incident
Following a period of social media buzz, the security guard at the center of the Chappell Roan drama spoke out. He said he was not in any way associated with the singer.
“I take full responsibility for the interactions on March 21st,” he wrote on Instagram. “I was at the hotel on behalf of another individual, and I was not part of the personal security team of Chappell Roan.”
He said he regrets the drama that the interaction has caused.
“The actions I took were not on behalf of Chappell Roan, her personal security team, her management, or any other individuals,” he wrote. “I made a judgment call based on information we obtained from the hotel, events I had witnessed in the days prior and the heightened overall security risk of our location. My sole interaction with the mother was calm and with good intentions, and the outcome of the encounter is regretful.”
