While many are applauding Chappell Roan for standing up to paparazzi harassment, Boy George decided to go another route.
On Tuesday (March 10), the former Culture Club singer took to X to share his thoughts on the recent viral video of Roan confronting paparazzi. In his post, George says that he’s been famous for a long time and that he’s learned that celebrities “don’t get a free pass once you turn yourself into a bird of paradise.”
He then tags Roan directly, advising her to “own your fame” and to “cheer up girl. The world is at your feet stop kicking it!” According to George, “boundaries are boring” and she should “break them with the magic of kindness.”
The response from Boy George comes a day after the video of Roan going toe-to-toe with paparazzi began circulating online. In the clip, Roan films herself selfie-style standing amidst a group of paparazzi shouting at and recording her as they hound her for autographs. Roan can be heard saying into her phone, “I’ve asked these people several times to get away from me,” before turning the camera on them. “These are all the people that are completely disregarding my boundaries,” she says later in the video.
X users were quick to defend Roan against George’s unsolicited opinion. “Why is everyone so eager to tell women to just take unwanted attention,” said one user. “Maybe she should handcuff someone to a radiator instead next time,” said another, referring to George’s 2009 conviction for false imprisonment. The singer was sentenced to 15 months in jail for handcuffing a male escort to a radiator and beating him with a metal chain in London in 2007.
With Culture Club, Boy George won a Grammy for best new artist in 1984, 41 years before Roan won in the same category.
Although George may not be aligned with Roan’s boundary-setting, several other stars are. On Tuesday, folk-rock singer/songwriter Noah Kahan took to his Instagram Stories to defend the “Pink Pony Club” singer. “Maybe they should just idk leave her alone?” Kahan wrote in his first post. In a follow-up video, he elaborates on why he does not like the behavior of the paparazzi and shared his own experiences with them.
“These people literally find out where you’re staying, where you’re flying in to, where your team, family, whoever is staying,” he says. “They are clearly not your fans, they just sit outside places so they can try to guilt you into signing sh– so they can sell it.”
This is not Roan’s first time setting boundaries with those around her. On the 2024 MTV VMAs red carpet, she confronted a photographer who allegedly told her to “shut the f— up.” That same year, Roan went viral for telling off another photographer at the premiere of Olivia Rodrigo: Guts World Tour film for being rude to her on a previous occasion.
The effects of the pop star’s boundary setting have been appreciated by others in the industry. At the 2026 Grammys, Sabrina Carpenter credited Roan for how “quiet” the red carpet photographers were saying, “Chappell really started a movement.”
At the time of publication, Roan had not responded to Boy George’s perspective.
