Halsey angrily calls out The Hollywood Reporter for publishing ‘personal attack’ on Chappell Roan

Halsey has spoken out to defend Chappell Roan from a “personal attack” opinion piece, written by music executive Jeff Rabhan for The Hollywood Reporter, which poured scorn on Roan’s Grammy Award speech.

Roan won Best New Artist at the Grammys 2025 after delivering a stellar performance of “Pink Pony Club” at the awards ceremony. 

While walking the red carpet, the star used her platform to share a powerful message of solidarity with the trans community, while her acceptance speech called for record labels to take better care of their artists. 

She told the star-studded crowd: “I told myself that if I ever won a Grammy and got to stand up here before the most powerful people in music, I would demand that labels in the industry profiting millions of dollars off of artists would offer a livable wage and health care, especially developing artists.

“Record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protection,” she said, before iconically concluding: “Labels, we got you. But do you got us?”

In response, The Hollywood Reporter published an op-ed by guest columnist Jeff Rabhan, who clearly isn’t a fan of Roan’s. 

‘Taking aim at the very machine that got her there’

Jeff Rabhan called Chappell Roan “uninformed” and claimed that “her Grammy speech was a hackneyed and plagiarized script of an artist basking in industry love while broadcasting naïveté and taking aim at the very machine that got her there.” 

“It seems Chappell Roan wants to turn labels into landlords, bosses and insurance providers?,” he continued, adding: “It is disingenuous to cash a fat label check, ride meaningful industry support to mainstream success and then act like the kid who didn’t get picked for dodgeball when your name is called.”

Calling out the op-ed, American singer-songwriter and actress Halsey took to her Instagram Story, tagging the publication, and writing that it and the writer should be “embarrassed of the absolute personal attack that you’ve ran and disguised as critical journalism.” 

“This is so far beneath the standard you should uphold as a publication,” Halsey jabbed. 

“Rabhan’s ranting, seething tantrum is loaded with assumptions and accusations that generalise the experience of every artist to that of the most successful. Out industry is comprised of thousands of voices, the elite at the very top of the class are not the example of a monolithic experience of all artists.”

She went on to write that the op-ed was “irresponsible”. “Shame on you. Boot-licking behaviour,” she concluded. 

Roan has responded to the op-ed by taking to her own Instagram Story, tagging Jeff Rabhan and challenging him to match her $25,000 donation to “struggling dropped artists.”

She followed the story with a selfie, smiling, and the text: “In the meantime, here are some artists that deserve more love and a bigger platform.”

Included in her chosen artists were Hemlocke Springs, Sarah Kinsley, Devon Again, and Baby Storme.

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