Chappell Roan has taken back her tribute to Brigitte Bardot, the French cinema icon who was also convicted numerous times for inciting racial hatred.
Despite her glamorous image, the actress had five criminal convictions for inciting racial hatred, mainly against Muslims for halal slaughter, and Jews for their preparation of kosher food.
Chappell Roan, 27, was one of the stars to pay tribute to Bardot shortly after her death was announced on Sunday, describing the singer as the ‘inspiration’ behind her 2023 song Red Wine Supernova.
‘She was my inspiration for red wine supernova. Rest in peace Ms. Bardot,’ she wrote to her Instagram Stories.
But fans flooded her comments section, urging her to take down the post due to Bardot’s reputation as a ‘well-known bigot.’
Chappell Roan has since released a statement insisting she was unaware of ‘all the insane s**t’ Bardot spoke about.
‘Holy s**t i did not know all that insane s**t Ms. Bardot stood for obvs I do not condone this,’ she wrote. ‘Very disappointing to learn.’
The 2023 track Red Wine Supernova references Bardot at the beginning of the song, with lyrics stating: ‘She was a playboy, Brigitte Bardot/She showed me things I didn’t know/She did it right there out on the deck/Put her canine teeth in the side of my neck.’
Followers urged Chappell Roan to ‘delete’ her tribute as they flooded her comments section.
‘Chappell, VERY disappointed that you posted tribute to Bardot, a well-known big0t,’ one wrote.
‘Baby delete the photo of brigitte im begging u!!’ one wrote.
‘Peace and Love Chappell but Brigitte was a racist, xenophobic, anti-feminist, anti-LGBTQ+, right-wing sympathizer…’ another posted.
‘Performative activism final boss,’ another posted.
‘Hey so Brigitte Bardot was racist, homophobic, anti-feminist and much more. why are we mourning her? very disappointing,’ another posted.
‘Hi why r u eulogizing Brigitte Bardot in ur most recent insta story when she was a genuine white supremacist :(,’ one wrote.
Known as the original ‘Sex Kitten’, Bardot shot to international notoriety with her role in the 1956 film And God Created Woman, which was directed by her first husband Roger Vadim.
She retired from acting in 1973 and became an animal rights activist.
But she remains a controversial figure, having made racist and homophobic remarks during her life. She described gay people as ‘fairground freaks’ in her book A Scream in the Silence.
Bardot has received substantial fines and been forced to apologize for her bigotry during court appearances in France.
In 2021, she was fined 20,000 euros (£17,000) by a court on France’s Indian Ocean island of La Reunion over a 2019 diatribe where she described its inhabitants as ‘savages’.
Bardot launched a rambling attack against the inhabitants of La Réunion, one of France’s overseas territories spread across the Indo-Pacific and the Caribbean, in response to what she saw as their mistreatment of animals.
Didier Robert, former president of the Réunion region, previously described Bardot as ‘irresponsible, outrageous and contemptuous’.
He said her letter contained deeply racist terms that were ‘absolutely unacceptable’.