Chappell Roan’s name has been cleared from the viral hotel security incident after the soccer player who accused her bodyguard of aggressively confronting his 11-year-old stepdaughter said he “regrets the impact” on the singer.
Nearly a month after the viral incident sparked a wave of backlash against Roan, 28, soccer star Jorginho Frello issued a statement Monday to clear up the situation, which occurred during Lollapalooza weekend in Brazil.
“I would like to give an update on what happened during Lolla weekend, as we have been seeing and hearing a lot over the past few weeks and felt it was important to clarify everything now that new information has come to light,” he wrote.
“I made my initial statement in the heat of the moment, after hearing that my child and wife had been approached by an adult male security guard in an intimidating way. I reacted as any father would. My priority is, and always will be, protecting my family, and that is exactly what I did.”
Frello went on to say that the situation did happen as he originally described it, but “At the time, we acted on the information that was available to us.”
Jorginho Frello issued a statement about the incident with Chappell Roan nearly a month after it went viral (Instagram)
Chappell Roan has been cleared from blame in last month’s security incident that left Jude Law’s 11-year-old daughter in tears (AFP/Getty)
“Since then, I have become aware of new information that has changed my understanding of parts of what happened,” he said, noting that Roan made a statement, reached out privately to Frello’s wife Catherine and that their teams spoke.
“It became clear that she had no knowledge of what took place at breakfast and had not asked anyone to approach them,” Frello said. “She was understanding and sympathetic to what had happened to our child.”
He acknowledged that the security guard later confirmed that he was representing another artist at the hotel at the time.
“While we still do not know what prompted him to approach them, and do not believe an 11-year-old at breakfast could reasonably be seen as any kind of security threat, it is now clear that he was not acting on behalf of Chappell,” Frello said.
“It was, ultimately, a misunderstanding in that respect, and I am glad to set the record straight. It’s important to me that this is clarified fairly and accurately. I regret the impact this situation has had on Chappell Roan, Catherine, Ada, and our family.
“I will always stand up for my family. But I also know how to recognize when things were not quite what they seemed at first.”
Jorginho Frello and his wife Catherine Harding (Getty)
He thanked people for their support and said that he does not condone hate speech before concluding: “As far as I am concerned, this matter is closed.”
Last month, after Roan performed at the music festival in Brazil, Frello posted on Instagram that his stepdaughter — who is Jude Law’s biological daughter — saw the superstar having breakfast at their hotel but did not approach her.
“She just passed by the singer’s table, looked over to confirm it was her, smiled, and went back to the table with her mom,” Frello wrote at the time. “She didn’t say anything, didn’t ask for anything.”
He then alleged that a member of Roan’s security team confronted the child, accused her of harassment and threatened to file a complaint against her. “My daughter got super scared and cried a lot,” Frello wrote.
His statement prompted backlash against the singer, which led Roan to issue a statement via Instagram video in which she insisted she was unaware of the incident.
Chappell Roan addressed claims that her security guard made Jude Law’s daughter cry in an Instagram video (Instagram)
“I’m just gonna tell my half of the story of what happened today with a mother and child who were involved with a security guard who is not my personal security,” she said in the video. “I didn’t even see. I didn’t even see a woman and a child. Like, I did not. No one came up to me. No one bothered me.”
She added, “I did not ask the security guard to go up and talk to this mother and child. I did not. They did not come up to me. They weren’t doing anything. It’s unfair for security to just assume someone doesn’t have good intentions when they have no reason to believe because there’s no action even taken.”
Roan’s statement did little to stop the online negativity against her, which new research later proved was fueled by generative bots.
Celebrity bodyguard Pascal Duvier went on to take “full responsibility” for the interaction, saying: “The actions I took were not on behalf of Chappell Roan, her personal security team, her management, or any other individuals.”
“I made a judgment call based on information we obtained from the hotel, events I had witnessed in the days prior and the heightened overall security risk of our location,” he said. “My sole interaction with the mother was calm and with good intentions, and the outcome of the encounter is regretful.”
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