Chappell Roan leaves agency over CEO emails with Ghislaine Maxwell
Chappell Roan said she left Wasserman, a talent agency, after its CEO, Casey Wasserman, was named in Jeffrey Epstein’s files, making her the highest-profile artist to break ties and demand accountability and consequences.
“I refuse to stand passively by,” the “Pink Pony Club” singer said Monday in an online statement in which she called for “responsibility and leadership that builds trust.”
He added: “I hold my teams to the highest standards and also have a duty to protect them. No artist, agent or employee should ever be expected to defend or overlook actions that so deeply conflict with our own moral values.”
Johnny Núñez via Getty Images
The pop star continued: “Artists deserve representation that aligns with their values and supports their safety and dignity. This decision reflects my belief that meaningful change in our industry requires accountability and leadership that builds trust.”
Wasserman, who is also president of the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic Games, has denied any wrongdoing.
In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, he defended that his email correspondence with Epstein’s sex trafficking mediator, Ghislaine Maxwell, took place long before his arrest. He also defended a trip on Epstein’s plane in 2002 as an innocent “humanitarian trip as part of a Clinton Foundation delegation.”
Documents show the couple exchanged flirtatious emails in 2003, when Wasserman was married and had a young family. Maxwell was subsequently convicted in 2021 on charges including conspiracy to entice minors into unlawful sexual acts, conspiracy to transport minors for that purpose, sex trafficking of a minor, conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking, and transportation of a minor to engage in sexual acts.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI via Getty Images
Roan’s hard line follows similar protests and disbandment from a handful of other artists, including Dropkick Murphys and musicians Water from Your Eyes, Wednesday, Beach Bunny and Best Coast.
“We are sad to part with [our agents]but the agency’s namesake is in Epstein’s files, so… WE ARE LEAVING,” Dropkick Murphys wrote in a since-deleted online post confirmed by Billboard.
The Water from Your Eyes duo also pointedly criticized Wasserman for aligning himself with “the most vile and disgusting social circle and human trafficking ring in the world” and announced his removal from his agency.
“Your ‘deepest regrets’ and PR apologies mean nothing in the wake of the violence against women and children caused by Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and their accomplices,” they said. “There must be accountability for the atrocities committed by the ruling class. We cannot live in a world that allows this injustice to occur without consequences.”
Beach Bunny also described herself as “hugely disappointed and upset.”
“[Wasserman’s] “The actions are abhorrent and disturbing on every level,” said the group, formed by guitarist and vocalist Lili Trifilio. “As a woman in music, sadly I’m no longer surprised that rich men in power do horrible things. I’m frustrated, I’m angry. Fuck you, Casey Wasserman.”
Like Beach Bunny, the band on Wednesday asked Wasserman’s company to kick him out and change his name.
“For the sake of his staff, we hope he leaves the company and changes his name, but until that happens or we find a new home at a new agency, we will no longer be associated with Wasserman,” they wrote.
Other acts represented by Wasserman, according to The New York Times, include Kendrick Lamar, Coldplay, Joni Mitchell, Lorde and Tyler, the Creator.