Photo: Getty Images for Acne
Over the weekend, drama erupted between Chappell Roan and the Brazilian soccer star Jorginho after the athlete accused the singer of making his daughter cry at a hotel where they were both staying in São Paulo. Since then, Roan has responded, Jorginho’s wife posted a lengthy video about what went down, and even the mayor of Rio has chimed in. Let’s unpack how on earth we got here.
On Saturday, Jorginho — whose full name is Jorge Luiz Frello Filho — posted a lengthy message on his Instagram Story claiming his family had gone through a “very upsetting situation” involving Roan. Jorginho said his wife, Catherine Harding, and stepdaughter, 11-year-old Ada — whose father is Jude Law — were staying at a hotel in São Paulo to attend Lollapalooza Brasil. Roan was staying at the same hotel and apparently walked by their table during breakfast on Saturday. “My daughter, like any child, recognized her, got excited, and just wanted to make sure it was really her,” Jorginho wrote. He said Ada “didn’t even approach her” but “walked past the singer’s table to confirm it was her, smiled, and went back to sit with her mum.”
According to the athlete, a “large security guard” then came over to their table and began speaking to them “in an extremely aggressive manner,” apparently telling Harding “she shouldn’t allow my daughter to ‘disrespect’ or ‘harass’ other people.” “My daughter was extremely shaken and cried a lot,” he wrote. Jorginho included a screenshot of Roan’s Instagram page in his post as well as a hand-drawn sign his daughter had made for Roan’s show. “WITHOUT YOUR FANS, YOU WOULD BE NOTHING,” he wrote. “AND TO THE FANS, SHE DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR AFFECTION.”
The backlash was swift. On Saturday, X was filled with memes about Roan hating children. Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Cavaliere decided to pipe up too — he proclaimed in an X post on Saturday that Roan “will never perform” at the city’s Todo Mundo no Rio music festival “as long as I’m in charge of our city,” adding that Jorginho’s “little one is already the guest of honor” for the festival.
Chappell Roan when a child smiles at her from across the breakfast buffet pic.twitter.com/UAh6n5D3o2
— Joe (@andjustliketwat) March 22, 2026
Roan responded in a video posted to her Instagram Story on Sunday, during which she said the guard who approached Harding and Ada was not her “personal security,” and she “did not ask this security guard” to go up to their table. Roan said she “didn’t even see a woman and a child” at the hotel restaurant and that “no one came up to me; no one bothered me.” “It’s unfair for security to just assume someone doesn’t have good intentions,” Roan said, adding that Harding and Ada “did not deserve that.” “I do not hate people who are fans of my music. I do not hate children. Like, that is crazy,” she said. “I am sorry to the mother and child that someone was assuming that you would do something. And if you felt uncomfortable, that makes me really sad.”
Chappell Roan responds to the controversy involving a security guard confronting a young fan. pic.twitter.com/i3bNx7b9FS
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) March 22, 2026
Harding posted her own video to Instagram on Sunday, and she pushed back on Roan’s denial that the security guard worked for her, saying he “was not a security guard of the hotel” and appeared to be “with her.” Harding said she and her daughter first noticed Roan when she walked past them at breakfast, and Ada walked outside to the garden area where Roan was eating to see if it was really her. “She didn’t have her phone. She didn’t try to take a picture. She didn’t approach her. She literally didn’t do anything. She just looked at her and smiled,” Harding said.
The security guard approached them shortly after her daughter returned to the table, she said, and proceeded to “berate” them. Harding said she explained to the security guard that her husband is “very well known” and her daughter “knows the limits” around not bothering famous people. The guard responded that her daughter should “know better,” Harding said, adding that she told the guard Roan should “eat breakfast in her room” if she didn’t want people looking at her, “because this here is a public area.”
A Catherine Harding fez um pronunciamento no Instagram contando o ocorrido que o Jorginho postou nos stories pic.twitter.com/JGnR8lXKci
— eduarda (@jsmescrf) March 22, 2026
She’s surviving. In another post to her Instagram Story on Sunday, Harding shared a photo of her daughter posing with Lewis Capaldi. “Thanks for your kindness,” she wrote, tagging the singer.
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