Chappell Roan isn’t afraid to use her voice to push boundaries within the entertainment industry.

At the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday — before winning Best New Artist and performing her hit single “Good Luck, Babe!” — the singer had a heated exchange with paparazzi on the red carpet, during which she told one in the group to “shut their f**k mouth.”

The moment — made even more intense by the outfit she was wearing at the time: a murderous medieval vintage dress, a brutal sword, and pointy metal spikes — immediately circulated online, with videos of the incident reaching 12 million people on X. In the full video, someone can be heard telling Roan to “shut the f**k up,” to which she responds with her finger pointed at the photographer, “You shut the f**k up!”

As he took control of the carpet, the singer added firmly, “No. Not me, bitch!”

After the photographer was publicly lambasted, Roan cleared the air in an interview with Entertainment Tonight: “This is pretty overwhelming and pretty scary.”

“For someone who gets a lot of anxiety when people yell at you, the carpet is horrible and I yelled back. You can’t yell at me like that,” she said.

Recently, the singer has made her boundaries clear with the entertainment industry and her fans. Last month, she took to social media to address stalking and harassment of her family and herself, telling fans, “I’m allowed to say no to creepy behavior, okay?”

She said, “I don’t care that abuse and harassment, stalking, whatever, is a normal thing to do to people who are famous or a little bit famous, whatever. I don’t care that it’s normal. I don’t care that this kind of crazy behavior is part of the job, the career field that I’ve chosen. That doesn’t make it okay, that doesn’t make it normal. That doesn’t mean I want it, that doesn’t mean I like it.”

Roan continued, “I don’t want whatever you think you should have when you see a celebrity. I don’t give a shit if you think it’s selfish of me to say no to a picture or your time or a hug. That’s not normal. That’s weird.”

The reception to the singer’s boundaries has polarized some fans, including last night when she yelled back at the photographer. Some fans online called Roan “not fit for fame.” Others said: “Can she not be rude to people now, like OMG we are tired.”

Another person brought up the canceled European concerts she was supposed to perform at instead of the VMAs. “Why did she cancel her shows in the first place and still show up if she’s going to act like this?”

However, people like Grammy-nominated singer Noah Kahan have come to Roan’s defense. The singer-songwriter said on X, “I will never forget leaving Clive Davis and the horrible shit that photographers and paparazzi or whatever said to me for my sweet mother who couldn’t believe it was actually happening. I love this @ChappellRoan way of standing up for yourself.”

Another viral tweet defending Roan read, “Chappell Roan enters the industry with a sense of self-worth that everyone applauds in other women as long as they endure 10 years of abuse before developing it.”

Roan is paving the way for young, rising stars to respect their boundaries and live authentically as themselves, something she emphasized in her speech later that evening when she accepted her first Moonman statuette.

With a big smile, Roan read her speech from her journal: “I dedicate this to all the drag artists who inspire me. I dedicate this to the queer and trans people making pop music everywhere. To the gay people who dedicate their songs to someone they love or hate. Thank you to the people who are fans and listen to me — who hear me when I share my joys and my fears. Thank you for listening.”

“To all the queer kids in the Midwest watching right now, I see you, I get you, because I’m one of you, and don’t ever let anyone tell you that you can’t be exactly who you want to be, b***h,” she concluded with a laugh.