‘Pink Pony Club’ performer Chappell Roan rode to the top of headlines on Sunday night (February 2) when she not only captured Best New Artist at the 67th annual GRAMMY Awards but also lifted a stirring acceptance speech calling out record labels for not supporting up-and-coming artists with “a livable wage and health care.”

While her brazen statements earned cheers from audience members and droves of supporters online, Jeff Rabhan – a music industry executive and guest writer at ‘The Hollywood Reporter (THR)’ – was none-too-impressed as evidenced by his scathing op-ed on the news outlet’s official site.

Her response to his stinging critique consequently launched a war between him and her fans, a battle that prompted him to take to social media on Friday (February 7) to address in a candid open letter.

Labelling the popular songstress as “Chappell Groan” in the original article, Rabhan took to ‘THR’ on Wednesday (February 5) to write the guest column ‘The Misguided Rhetoric of an Instant Industry Insider‘ in which he claimed she was “far too green and uninformed to be the agent of change she aspires to be today.”

Once word of the article got to her desk, the GRAMMY winner (born Kayleigh Rose Amstutz) responded with a unique challenge.

“Wanna match me $25k to donate to struggling dropped artists?,” she wrote on her Instagram story, tagging Rabhan. “Will keep everyone updated on the much awaited response…And I will show receipts of the donations <3. Mr. Rabhan I love how in the article you said ‘put your money where your mouth it.’ Genius!!! Let’s link and build together and see if you can do the same.”

Fans and celebrities like singer-songwriter Halsey took to the Web to defend Amstutz, sending Rabhan’s name to trending status on social media.

On Friday (February 7), he took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to address the hoopla – dissing Roan again his lengthy tweet.

“Who thought it was a good idea to publicly challenge an educator to a 25k “one-upping” contest? Really? Do you know what teachers make? Right idea pointed in the wrong direction. Someone around you should have advised you to put up 25k before Sunday to challenge the industry to match –you would have collected from everyone and they would have felt good about doing it on Grammy nite,” he said. “Your ego isn’t allowing you and your team isn’t telling you what this manager would tell you: Stop dumpster diving and act like the agent of change you say you want to be! I’m neither the enemy nor the problem.”

Later in the address, Rabhan alleged he’s been serially harassed by Halsey and Chappell fans since his original ‘THR’ article went viral.

“Sitting atop your platform punching me and challenging me is about as productive as running on a treadmill expecting to get somewhere…If you and Halsey had directed your fanbase to donate $1 to your Living Artist Fund for every hate filled slur sent to me— you would have enough funding in ONE DAY to cover health care for every single artist and writer in need for almost 2 years,” he shared before saying, “And your fans are creative with their slurs but I survived 3 teenagers of my own who are a lot meaner…If you, your artist friends and your fans want to attack me for pushing you to think and act like a champion, to lead by doing instead of finger pointing and to be the change you want to see, then carry on.”

While his open letter carried an overall defensive tone, Jeff did sneak an apology in his verbose response.

“I never wanted you to feel attacked…I stand behind my premise and advice in my article, but I apologize to you openly if my words left you feeling attacked,” he said.

Read the full statement here.

At writing, Chappell nor Halsey has responded.

[photo source: Getty Images]

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