Last week, Chappell Roan sparked controversy when she suddenly canceled two of her upcoming European concerts.
Days before their scheduled dates, Chappell canceled her shows in Paris and Amsterdam — and also rescheduled a third in Berlin.
Chappell wrote online, “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 :( I promise I will be back. I’m heartbroken 💔 thank you for understanding.”
Fans were shocked and devastated by Chappell’s announcement, especially since many had booked nonrefundable hotels and transport to attend.
Chappell’s sudden cancellation of her shows also sparked unverified speculation that she’d instead chosen to attend rehearsals for the MTV Video Music Awards, which she will be performing at next week.
Well, this weekend, Chappell addressed the outrage herself. After sharing a carousel of selfies to her Instagram page captioned “this shit is awesome,” several fans branded the singer “disrespectful” for “pretending” that everything was “normal” amid the backlash.
“Pretending like everything is normal after fucking over thousands of your fans is so cool!” one comment read. “Are you joking? You’re not going to address what you’ve done?… People were literally on their way across countries to watch you,” said another.
Eventually, Chappell took to the comments herself to apologize.
“I’m very sorry :,( I explained why I canceled and I know it sucks but hopefully ppl can understand <3 I promise I will b back xoxo,” she wrote.
However, many fans were left even more angry by Chappell’s comment, even going so far as to brand it a “non-apology.” One person commented, “Saying whoopsie 'scheduling conflicts :(' 2 days before the show is not giving an explanation.”
“This reads as passive aggressive to me tbh lol because ‘I explained why I cancelled’ I mean … not really lmao? ‘scheduling conflicts’ 48 hours/a week before concerts that were booked many months ago is impossible,” someone wrote on Reddit.
“It’s a weak ass apology and would have been better if it was more professionally worded imo,” someone else said.
“If I had thousands of dollars spent on flights etc, and my fav came out saying ‘I’ll be back xoxo’ like some gossip girl revival, you best believe I’m never paying for a ticket to their show again,” one user wrote.
“‘I explained’… ‘scheduling conflicts’ is hardly an explanation on why you’ve cancelled shows at the last minute, leaving people unable to get refunds on their travels and accommodation, when there had been rumours of a cancellation for weeks,” one more person said.