Singer-songwriter Chappell Roan quickly walked back a tribute to Brigitte Bardot after learning about the late French actress’s history of “very disappointing” far-right political beliefs, Rolling Stone reported.
Bardot died Sunday at age 91 at her home in Saint-Tropez. The iconic actress starred in films including “And God Created Woman.”
Shortly after news of Bardot’s death, Roan posted a photo to her Instagram Stories honoring the actress. “She was my inspiration for Red Wine Supernova. Rest in peace Ms. Bardot,” the 27-year-old wrote.
Roan, whose real name is Kayleigh Amstutz, references Bardot in the first verse of the 2023 song, singing “She was a playboy, Brigitte Bardot / She showed me things I didn’t know.”
Several hours later, the “Pink Pony Club” singer deleted the post and returned to clarify her position. “Holy s— I did not know all that insane s— Ms. Bardot stood for. [Obviously], I do not condone this,” she wrote.
Bardot achieved fame as a sex symbol and later became an animal rights activist, founding The Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986.
However, Bardot’s legacy is complicated by her social views. The actress was convicted five times for inciting racial hatred against Muslims and fined twice for public insults. Her fourth husband, Bernard d’Ormale, served as an advisor to far-right French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, Bardot referred to actresses claiming to have been victims of sexual harassment as “hypocritical, ridiculous, uninteresting.”
“There are many actresses who flirt with producers in order to get a role,” she said during a 2018 interview with French magazine Paris Match. “Then, in order to be talked about, they will say they have been harassed. In reality, rather than benefiting them, it harms them.”