Chappell Roan Responds to Music Executive Who Criticized Her Grammy Awards Speech in His Scathing Op-Ed: “Let’s Talk”

Chappell Roan took home the Grammy Award for Best New Artist last weekend and made waves in the music industry. However, it wasn’t the win that made countless artists and executives take notice. Instead, it was how she chose to use her platform. During her acceptance speech, she called for record labels to offer their artists health insurance and a living wage.

While many agreed or, at the very least, believed that Roan’s requests were reasonable, some took umbrage with what she had to say. As is par for the course a few old white men took to the internet to explain why the young, popular, successful woman was wrong, entitled, and all-around out of line.

More specifically, music executive Jeff Rabhan wrote a scathing—and widely mocked—op-ed for the Hollywood Reporter taking Roan to task. Today, she responded to Rabhan’s article via her Instagram stories.

“Jeff Rabhan, wanna match me $25k to donate to struggling dropped artists?” Roan wrote in one slide. She tagged her publicist’s account and added, “Let’s talk.” In the next slide, she added, “Will keep everyone updated on the much awaited Jeff Rabhan response!!

And I will show receipts of the donations.” Once again addressing the executive directly, she added, “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.”

While Roan and her fans wait for the executive to reply, she shared a few artists who she believes deserve more exposure. Hemlocke Springs, Sarah Kinsley, Devon Again, and Baby Storme were on her list.

More Information on Jeff Rabhan’s Chappell Roan Hit Piece

In his op-ed titled “Chappell Groan: The Misguided Rhetoric of an Instant Industry Insider,” Rabhan wrote that Chappell Roan was “too green and uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be.”

He also called her speech “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.” He added, “If labels are responsible for artists’ wages, health care, and overall well-being, where do it end and personal responsibility begin? Should Chris Blackwell put a mint on her pillow and tuck her in at night, too?”

He also urged Roan to “Put your money where your mouth is and invest in new models of artist compensation instead of expecting labels to change overnight.” This prompted her to ask him to do the same.

Featured Image by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images