Not Your Audience Anymore

It’s been a minute since I wrote about celebrity bullshit, but, here we are. Mostly because two recent incidents hit the same exact nerve. The vibe? Shut up, give us your money, and be grateful you’re even in the room. Smh.

The first one to hit my feed was Chilli from TLC. They recently announced the “It’s Iconic” tour featuring TLC, Salt-N-Pepa, and En Vogue. People were excited. Nostalgia will do that. Until people found out Chilli had donated to the MAGA movement and reshared a grotesque conspiracy theory about former First Lady Michelle Obama.

And people were pissed.

The backlash was instant. No slow burn, no grace period. Just immediate, loud accountability. Because given everything happening right now, some things are harder to ignore, harder to excuse, harder to swallow.

Then, like clockwork, once those ticket sales started looking shaky, Chilli went on her apology tour. Saying she didn’t know what she shared was a conspiracy. Saying she didn’t even realize she shared it. Which, sure. But the internet doesn’t work like that. People had the receipts. They always do.

Photo by Tamanna Rumee on Unsplash.

Then came the donation explanation. She thought she was donating to help. Help who, exactly, is still unclear. And then people found out her boyfriend, Matthew Lawrence, is also an apparent MAGA supporter. So now it’s not just a one-off. It’s a pattern, or at the very least, proximity that people are no longer willing to separate from the artist.

Then Salt from Salt-N-Pepa stepped in to defend her.

Sigh.

She put out a statement telling Chilli to keep her head up, while also criticizing people for having opinions. For questioning whether they want to spend their hard-earned money on artists whose values don’t align with theirs. Framing it like online negativity is what’s really doing the damage here, not the beliefs or the donations or the receipts.

To that I say, shut the fuck up.

Because this isn’t just “online negativity.” This is real life. These are real consequences tied to real beliefs that impact real people.

I have no skin in the game. I don’t care about Chilli, her boyfriend, or Salt. For me, it’s simple. If you align in any way with MAGA ideology, it’s a no. Period.

Not when people are being detained and dehumanized. Not when people are struggling just to survive while costs keep climbing and pay doesn’t. Not when rights are being stripped in real time. There is always money for war, always urgency for destruction, but never enough for the people.

So no. I’m not separating the art from the artist. I’m not funding my own harm. Nostalgia isn’t that powerful.

And apparently, I’m not the only one who feels that way.

When TLC tried to do a little temperature check, asking fans what they wanted to hear from the setlist, people weren’t playing along. They were dragging them.

“Waterfalls” → “Build That Wall” “Unpretty” → “Unwoke” “Ain’t 2 Proud 2 Beg” → “Ain’t Too Proud for Trump” “What About Your Friends” → “What About My Base” “Red Light Special” → “Red Hat Special” “Diggin’ On You” → “Votin’ For You” “Baby-Baby-Baby” → “MAGA-MAGA-MAGA”

And honestly? That told them everything they needed to know.

The temperature check failed.

Which brings me to the second incident. Different stage, same energy. And I want to sit here for a second, because I think it’s easy to look at these two situations and see them as separate. One’s about politics. One’s about a crinkled nose at a sound. But they’re not separate. They’re the same thing wearing different clothes.

Coachella is happening right now, which in itself feels surreal considering there are literal wars happening across the world. But that’s a different conversation.

During Sabrina Carpenter’s set, there was a moment where the crowd made a sound. It wasn’t random. It sounded like a grito. If you don’t know, that’s a high-pitched expression of joy, pride, culture. It’s celebration. It’s identity. It’s history in a sound. It’s not a trick. It’s not a disruption. It’s people showing up as themselves in a space they paid to be in.

I didn’t see an issue with it. Not even a little.

But apparently Sabrina did.

She asked what the sound was. Someone explained it was a zaghrouta, also a cultural expression. And her response? She crinkled her nose and said:

“I don’t like it.” “It’s weird.”

And there it is.

Different artists. Different situations. Same underlying message.

Photo by Yvette de Wit on Unsplash.

Your culture is acceptable when it entertains us. When it’s profitable. When it’s packaged in a way that feels safe and familiar. But the moment it shows up authentically, loudly, unapologetically, it becomes “weird.” It becomes something to reject, to distance from, to diminish. You can be the inspiration. You just can’t be fully present.

And people are tired.

Tired of being the audience, the consumer, the aesthetic, but never fully human in the eyes of the people asking for their money.

And of course, once the backlash ripped through social media, Sabrina went on her own apology tour.

Which is the standard practice when artists do or say dumb shit. But, here’s a novel idea, maybe don’t do or say dumb shit?

Look, if you support the MAGA movement, that’s on you. But if you are an artist, celebrity, mediocre influencer, maybe understand that people don’t have to love and accept everything you do, especially when you are in direct opposition to what so many of your fans believe, fight for, and live every single day.

Or maybe understand that some people have culture, and it doesn’t always align with the mayo version of things, but it doesn’t make it weird. Using mayo as a sole condiment is.

I digress.

Except I don’t.

Because at the end of the day, this is about access. Access to people, to culture, to money. And for a long time, artists have been able to take all three without respecting any of them.

That window is closing.

You can’t mock what you don’t understand and still expect to profit from it. You can’t align with harm and still expect support from the people being harmed.

People are done pretending.

And that shift? That’s going to cost you.