Chappell Roan challenges executive who bashed Grammy speech to match $25,000 donation

Chappell Roan has responded to the music industry executive who called her Grammy speech misguided and performative after she urged record labels to better support smaller artists.

The 26-year-old pop star challenged Jeff Rabhan, a former artist manager for over 15 years, on Friday to match a $25,000 donation she said she'd make toward artists who have been dropped by their music labels.

After accepting her first Grammy win Sunday in the best new artist category, Roan called out record labels for failing aspiring musicians by not offering livable wages and healthcare benefits. The "Pink Pony Club" singer shared she felt betrayed and dehumanized after being dropped from her first label in a system she said regularly fails smaller artists.

In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter published Wednesday, Rabhan argued music labels bear no responsibility over an artist's health care and well-being. The 54-year-old emphasized labels do not need to provide funds beyond advances and royalties. He also urged the singer to use her success to support struggling artists herself "rather than just talk at it."

Roan, whose real name is is Kayleigh Rose Amstutz, responded to the Rabhan's request declaring she has no problem doing just that. She wrote that she will donating $25,000 to "struggling dropped artists" without specifying which organization her money will go toward.

"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," she wrote on her Instagram story Friday.

Later in her Instagram story she promised to keep followers updated on Rabhan's awaited response and highlighted smaller artists she said deserved recognition.

Rabhan says Roan is 'pointing in the wrong direction'

Rabhan called Roan's Instagram story asking him to raise money "meaningless" and said the singer is "pointing in the wrong direction."

"Does she want to help artists, or does she want or just want to win a social media fight? It's really that simple," Rabhan told USA TODAY Friday. "Obviously she's more interested in pointing at me, as opposed to trying to help all the artists."

USA TODAY reached out to representatives for Roan.

Rabhan said he also wants to better support smaller artists using his years of experience managing solo female artists. He added he currently makes a living building foundations, nonprofits and schools.

"My point and my position comes from all sides. I've been on both sides of that coin," he said. "I've also served as an educator at the highest levels, teaching music business and trying to educate artists and do all the things that she wants to do. I'm in the solution, and if this is what she wants to do, there's a way to do it. But it doesn't seem that she's interested in actually accomplishing the goal."

Who is Jeff Rabhan and what did he say about Chappell Roan?

Rabhan is the former chair of New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music and former executive director at the Los Angeles Academy for Artists & Music Production. He previously worked as an artist manager for 15 years.

In his guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, Rabhan called Roan's Grammy speech an ineffective attempt to turn "labels into landlords, bosses and insurance providers."

He also said Roan is far "too green and too uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today" and 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."

When was Chappell Roan dropped by her label?

In 2020, Atlantic Records dropped Chappell Roan after signing her in 2015.

For a couple of years, Roan worked a string of jobs including nanny and production assistant while developing her music career as an independent artist. In 2023 she was signed to Amusement Records, an imprint of Island Records created by her producer and collaborator Dan Nigro.

"If my label would have prioritized artists health I could've been provided care by the company I was giving everything to. So record labels need to treat their artists as valuable employees with a livable wage and health insurance and protections," she said during her speech in Los Angeles on Sunday. "Labels we got you, but do you got us?"

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chappell Roan urges executive to match donation after speech critique