After posting a tribute to Brigitte Bardot following her death in December 2025, Chappell Roan quickly backtracked. Roan initially noted that Bardot was the inspiration for her “Red Wine Supernova” music video, which prominently centers on a lesbian couple. Ironically, Bardot was kind of a raging homophobe, among other things.
“Holy s*** I did not know all that insane s*** Ms. Bardot stood for,” Roan wrote in her retraction on social media. She deleted her original tribute, following backlash from fans who clued her in to Bardot’s controversial views. “I do not condone this. Very disappointing to learn.”
In 1959, Bardot was labeled the most liberated woman in France by Simone de Beauvoir. She often portrayed hedonistic and sexually liberated characters in her films. But later, she expressed political and social opinions that contradicted her fictionally curated image of liberation.
To put it plainly, she held strong far-right views regarding politics in her native France. Often and loudly, she shared them in her memoirs and open letters. She was a staunch animal welfare activist, but that often came at the expense of human rights and religious practices. Bardot was fined, sued, and taken to court in France several times for hate speech, which she often denied.
“I never knowingly wanted to hurt anybody. It is not in my character,” she said in court in 2004, regarding racially hateful comments. However, Bardot continued to share these views, so there’s not much stock one can really put in her apology.
Brigitte Bardot was an Icon, but she Probably Would Have Disapproved of Chappell Roan
It’s unclear if Brigitte Bardot ever heard of Chappell Roan before her death at 91. But something tells me she would not have been pleased to learn her iconic aesthetic was the inspiration for “Red Wine Supernova”.
Bardot held critical opinions about mixed-race relationships, immigration, women in politics, animal slaughter for religious purposes, hunting, Islam, and rape victims coming forward in the entertainment industry. Additionally, she held disparaging opinions about contemporary homosexuality.
The least of her comments included claims that modern gay people behave like “fairground freaks,” which she wrote in her 2003 book Un Cri Dans Le Silence (A Scream in the Silence). There, she also criticized teachers, immigrants, and the unemployed, as well as calling for the return of the guillotine. Notably, Bardot openly supported Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the French far-right party National Front (later renamed to National Rally).
And this is just the tip of the iceberg regarding Brigitte Bardot’s various sociopolitical faux pas. She was so heinously outspoken that the French people became almost unanimously fed up with giving her a pass for her legacy. By 2008, she’d been slapped with racial hatred charges five times. Even the prosecutor at the time expressed weariness at dealing with her. There are only so many times you can say “Oh, that’s just crazy Aunt Brigitte. She used to be a movie star” before the words lose all meaning.
Why the Inspiration For ‘Red Wine Supernova’ Serves as Delightful Irony
Chappell Roan may have deleted her tribute to Brigitte Bardot after learning of her unsavory views, but “Red Wine Supernova” still retains the spark of inspiration from the French icon. And that’s okay. Because now it can serve as a big middle finger to Bardot’s loudly derogatory opinions.
Instead of feeling embarrassment or shame to have been inspired by Bardot, there’s now an opportunity to reclaim it. Yeah, Bardot was kind of scummy, and she would’ve definitely hated that her look inspired a music video about lesbians. But that’s the sweet, sweet irony of it all, and there’s nothing she can do about it now.
Rest in peace, Brigitte Bardot. You were as iconic as you were problematic, and you inspired a queer artist to make a music video about lesbian magicians, whether you approved or not.
Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Hulton Archive/Gilbert Flores/Billboard via Getty Images
The post R.I.P. Brigitte Bardot, You Would Have Hated Chappell Roan’s ‘Red Wine Supernova’ appeared first on VICE.
