Halsey crticizes music executive Jeff Rabhan for "personal attack" on Chappell Roan in article about her Grammys speech

Halsey stepped in and defended Chappell Roan after music executive Jeff Rabhan's "personal attack" on the singer following her speech at the Grammys. The Pink Pony Club hitmaker won the Best New Artist at the 2025 Grammys and during her acceptance speech, Roan advocated for emerging artists to receive livable wages and health care from their record labels.

While many applauded Roan for her Grammy speech, Rabhan described her remarks as "misguided rhetoric" in a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter. He also called the Grammy winner "far too green and uninformed to be the agent of change."

However, soon after Rabhan's article was published, Halsey took to her Instagram story to call out the publication for their "personal attack" against Roan. Tagging the outlet, she wrote:

"I hope you're embarrassed of the absolute personal attack that you've ran and disguised as critical journalism. This is so far beneath the standard you should uphold as a publication."

Halsey also doubled down on Rabhan's article, adding:

"Jeff Rabhan's ranting, seething tantrum is loaded with assumptions and accusations that generalize the experience of every artist to that of the most successful."

She added that the examples Rabhan made in his column don't represent the entire music industry nor does his examples of the "elite at the very top class" provide a clear view of the experience of other artists.

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Halsey called out Jeff Rabhan's "boot licking behavior" in defense of Chappell Roan

Halsey further called out The Hollywood Reported and Jeff Rabhan in her statement to defend Chappell Roan via her Instagram story. She said that Rabhan's article was irresponsible, especially how he compared Roan to Taylor Swift. She wrote:

"An artist like Chappell who has worked for over a decade is not an "instant industry insider" and to compare the payoff of her actions to those of an industry titan with the power and financial leverage like Taylor Swift, when Chappell hasn't even spun the block enough times to see the residuals of her long earned but sudden success, is irresponsible for someone with your experience in this industry."

She further wrote:

"Shame on you. Boot licking behavior."

Halsey also seemed to agree with Chappell Roan's sentiments during her Grammy acceptance speech. The Grammy winner mentioned that advances for artists are "seldomly awarded the way they used to."

She said that if the industry wanted to profit from someone else's art, the artist should have access to "basic living means" like health insurance so they would feel safe enough to create art.

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Speaking of health, Halsey has experienced health setbacks recently. In June last year, she opened up about her Lupus diagnosis and another rare disease that she had been dealing with privately over the last couple of years. However, she said on her Instagram at the time that she was "feeling better" with the help of her doctors.