Chappell Roan hits back after sparking backlash from record executive over Grammys ‘living wage’ speech
Grammy winner Chappell Roan has challenged music executive Jeff Rabhan to match her £20,000 donation for struggling artists after he criticised her acceptance speech about fair wages in the music industry.
The 26-year-old singer took to Instagram yesterday to respond to Rabhan’s scathing op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter, which dismissed her calls for record labels to provide living wages and healthcare.
The 26-year-old took home the award for Best New Artist at last week’s 67th Grammy awards, where she made her initial speech.
She was also one of only two artists to receive nominations in all major categories with Sabrina Carpenter.
“Wanna match me $25k to donate to struggling dropped artists?” Roan wrote, promising to share proof of her donation, after being criticised by Rabhan.
At Sunday’s Grammy Awards, Roan used her Best New Artist acceptance speech to demand better treatment of musicians by record labels.
“I would demand that labels and the industry, profiting millions of dollars off of artists, would offer a liveable wage and health care,” she declared to applause from the audience.
Rabhan responded in his op-ed that Roan was “far too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today.”
He argued there was “no moral or ethical obligation” for labels to provide funds beyond advances and royalties.
In her Instagram posts, Roan directly challenged Rabhan’s criticism, writing: “Mr Rabhan I love how in the article you said ‘put your money where your mouth is.’ Genius!!! Let’s link and build together and see if you can do the same.”
The singer promised transparency about the charitable gesture, stating she would “show receipts of the donations.”
She also tagged Rabhan in a screenshot of his article and provided her publicist’s contact details, adding “wanna talk?”
“Will keep everyone updated on the much awaited response!!” Roan wrote.
Roan’s advocacy stems from personal experience, having been signed to Atlantic Records as a teenager before being released from the label.
“When I got dropped, I had zero job experience under my belt,” she recalled in her Grammy speech.
“And like most people, I had quite a difficult time finding a job in the pandemic and could not afford insurance,” Roan continued.
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She described feeling “devastated” and “dehumanised” by the experience, saying she felt “betrayed by the system” after giving everything to her label.
Following her challenge to Rabhan, Roan used her platform to spotlight emerging artists she believes deserve more recognition.
She shared links to the music of Hemlocke Springs, Sarah Kinsley, Devon Again and Baby Storme, describing them as “artists that deserve more love and a bigger platform.”