Soccer star who called out Chappell Roan regrets 'misunderstanding'

Brendan Morrow, USA TODAYTue, April 14, 2026 at 12:27 PM UTC

0

The soccer star who called out Chappell Roan for a security incident last month now says the entire situation was a misunderstanding.

After Jorginho Frello alleged in March that a security guard made his 11-year-old daughter Ada cry when she and his wife Catherine encountered the "Pink Pony Club" singer at a hotel, he said in an Instagram story on April 13 that it has since become clear the guard was not acting on Roan's behalf, and she had "no knowledge" of his actions.

"It was, ultimately, a misunderstanding in that respect, and I am glad to set the record straight," he wrote. "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."

Chappell Roan attends the Grammy Awards on Feb. 1, 2026, in Los Angeles.

Frello originally took to Instagram on March 21 to allege his wife and daughter ran into Roan at breakfast while staying at the same hotel as her in Brazil. The soccer star said the child walked past the singer and "looked to confirm it was her, smiled, and went back to sit with her mum."

A security guard allegedly then "began speaking in an extremely aggressive manner to both my wife and my daughter, saying that she shouldn't allow my daughter to 'disrespect' or 'harass' other people."

Chappell Roan speaks out after security allegedly made young fan cry

The guard also "said he would file a complaint against them with the hotel, while my 11-year-old daughter was sitting there in tears," alleged Frello, who criticized Roan and said it's "sad to see this kind of treatment coming from those who should understand the importance of fans." Speaking directly to Roan's followers, Frello wrote that the singer "does not deserve your affection."

Advertisement

The claims sparked social media backlash against the Grammy winner, as well as a wave of memes suggesting she hates children. But in an Instagram video on March 22, Roan, who was in Brazil to perform at Lollapalooza, said she "didn't even see a woman and a child" and that the guard was not part of her personal security team.

Bodyguard involved in Chappell Roan controversy speaks out

"I did not ask the security guard to go up and talk to this mother and child," she said. "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."

She continued, "I'm sorry to the mother and child, that someone was assuming something, that you would do something, and if you felt uncomfortable. That makes me really sad. You did not deserve that."

Bodyguard Pascal Duvier later took responsibility for what happened. In a statement on March 25, he said he "was at the hotel on behalf of another individual" and "was not part of the personal security team of Chappell Roan," adding, "The actions I took were not on behalf of Chappell Roan, her personal security team, her management, or any other individuals." He said he "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."

Chappell Roan attends the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5, 2025, in New York City.

In his April 13 story on Instagram, Frello said he made his original statement "in the heat of the moment" and reacted "as any father would," acting "on the information that was available to us" at the time. But information that has come to light since "changed my understanding of parts of what happened," he wrote. Frello also said that in addition to making her public statement, Roan reached out privately to his wife.

"It became clear that she had no knowledge of what took place at breakfast and had not asked anyone to approach them," he said. "She was understanding and sympathetic to what had happened to our child."

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jorginho Frello says Chappell Roan incident was a misunderstanding

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”