The singer has responded to the comments made by Betty Who
BY AIMEE BUTLER, IMAGE BY PARAMOUNT
Queer icon Reneé Rapp has finally broken her silence in an interview with Cosmopolitan UK after being name-dropped in comments made by Australian singer-songwriter Betty Who on a podcast in August.
If you aren’t up to speed with the ins and outs of this drama, here it is in short.
Speaking on the Made It Out podcast, Betty opened up about their sexual fluidity and the pressures of being a queer artist and role model while still exploring themself. Acknowledging the backlash received by other queer artists Fletcher and Jojo Siwa after they revealed their relationships with men, Betty expressed sympathy, stating, “It’s kind of like, now we’ve come so far, that our community is so strong, that now it’s like a crime to be straight.”
Betty brought Reneé into the mix when they described a hypothetical situation in which Reneé, who identifies as a lesbian and has vehemently expressed that she will never date a man, should feel support if, later down the line, she changes her mind and falls for a man.
“As much as it’s funny that Reneé Rapp is like, ‘You’ll never catch me dating a man.’ It’s like, ‘Go off, queen! I love that for you.’ But I also hold space for her in 10 years if she goes, ‘Oops, I met the love of my life and it’s this man, I didn’t mean to.’ It’s like, that’s okay!”
Betty’s words ignited frustration across the queer community, with the comments branded “lesbophobic” and harmful, reinforcing the idea of lesbianism as a “phase”.
Reneé has now addressed the comments in a new interview with Cosmopolitan UK, claiming she wasn’t surprised to be brought into the conversation.
“People are always going for lesbians! Somebody’s gonna bring my name into the conversation if they want to be in the conversation.”
She also took time to acknowledge the disappointing rhetoric the comments seemed to reinforce, and their irrelevance to her and much of the lesbian community.
“I mean, it’s just very similar to the whole, ‘she hasn’t found the right man’. What makes you think I’m gonna end up with a man?’ Also, how about don’t talk about me when it comes to a man? I’m very publicly in a very loving relationship with a woman. So, I’m not really sure what about that is so blurry.”
Reneé stated that while she understands the societal pressure to identify yourself once you are a part of the queer community, she reasoned that most of that pressure comes from within, claiming that personally, “No one ever had a gun to my head and was like, ‘Tell me what you are, right the f**k now.’. I had a gun to my own head, and I was like, ‘Tell me what you are, right the f**k now’ because I was trying to figure it out, because I didn’t know who I was.”
She concluded her response simply and directly, advising, “Just focus on yourself”.
“Just literally focus on yourself. Don’t bring my big f**king lesbian name into your mouth and into this drama.”
Before Reneé’s response, Betty had already publicly apologised for their comments, acknowledging that they “poorly articulated” their experience and “never meant to contribute to prejudice against the community.”.
The full digital cover interview can be read on Cosmopolitan UK.
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