Brigitte Bardot, the iconic French movie star and sex symbol, passed away on Sunday at the age of 91. In the wake of her death, some of us only just learned about the fucked-up political stances that Bardot took in the last decades of her life. To those of us who tend to view politics along an American left-right spectrum, Bardot’s positions were frankly incomprehensible, but they sure weren’t good. She was a vocal advocate for animal rights who made lots and lots of racist statements, especially against Muslims and immigrants. She also said homophobic and anti-feminist things. On five separate occasions, the French government convicted Bardot of inciting racial hatred. When a figure like that passes away, it’s not always a good idea just to tweet some variation of “RIP, queen.”
I am an old-ass person, and I didn’t know any of this stuff about Brigitte Bardot’s problematic public life before her passing. Neither, it seems, did plenty of younger stars, Chappell Roan chief among then. Roan isn’t very active on social media these days, but she namechecked Bardot as a sexual ideal on her song “Red Wine Supernova.” On her Instagram story, Roan posted, “She was my inspiration for red wine supernova. Rest in peace Ms. Bardot.”
A couple of hours later, Roan deleted that post and posted something else instead: “Holy shit i did not know all that insane shit Ms. Bardot stood for obvs I do not condone this. very disappointing to learn.” Relatable!
Chappell Roan wasn’t the only one. Odessa A’zion, star of Marty Supreme and I Love LA, went on a similar journey.
So did Apple Martin, daughter of Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay’s Chris Martin.
I am not here to clown these famous younger people for not knowing some shit that I also didn’t know. It’s just funny whenever people feel like they have to retract their tributes.
issuing correction on a previous post of mine, regarding the terror group ISIL. you do not, under any circumstances, “gotta hand it to them”
— wint (@dril) February 15, 2017
Meanwhile, Jennifer Aniston, who is not Gen Z, isn’t retracting shit.
Finally, the passing of Brigitte Bardot means that only three people namedropped on Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start The Fire” are still alive today: Chubby Checker, Bob Dylan, and Bernard Goetz.
