As rising pop princess Chappell Roan’s star continues to rise, more and more people are jamming out to her music. But one sorority’s love for a Chappell track raised eyebrows and sparked controversy across the internet. 

The sorority, Alpha Gamma Delta at the University of Oklahoma, posted a TikTok featuring its members dancing to Roan’s hit song “HOT TO GO!”, incorporating cartwheels, their sorority’s hand sign, and the song’s iconic spelling dance. 

@oualphagam

Our chapter is ALL SET for you to run home, PC ‘24 💗🏡 #RUSHTHEREDDOORS #GOGAM #WORKWEEK #ALPHAGAMMADELTA #ALPHAGAM #RUSH #DANCE #RUSHTOK #SORORITY

♬ original sound – OU ALPHA GAM

It sounds innocent enough, but it earned the sorority negative attention when the video was reposted to X, formerly Twitter. A since deleted post of the video with the caption, “We live in such a strange timeline,” went majorly viral before its poster made their account private. Along the way, the video (and the sorority sisters who made it) got critiqued from all angles, including another deleted post reading, “Love that Chappell is getting recognition but I fear half of them would probably call her a slur.”

Screenshot via @computer_gay on X.

Folks assumed that a sorority and queer culture could never go together, but those stereotypes don’t tell the full story. Take it from the women in the sorority: Madison Newberry, the chapter’s president, took to social media to explain that not only is she a huge fan of Roan, but she herself is queer.

“I’m the president of this chapter and I’m also queer! LGBTQ+ people in sororities exist & we are just having fun,” she wrote on X. “I saw Chappell in concert in February and had the absolute best time at her show & with filming this tiktok! 🙂 sending all the love to her.”

Another sorority member named Emily took to TikTok to explain that she’s always been an ally to queer folks. She proved her RuPaul’s Drag Race fandom with a video lip-syncing to Katya’s verse from Read U Wrote U, captioned,  “Little do they know I’ve known every word to this song since 7th grade, would religiously wear my Katya sweatshirt, and have been calling out homophobes from the ripe age of 11.”

@emmmkemppp

love the gams and the gays #katyazamolodchikova

♬ original sound – sophiavandy

Other folks claiming to attend the same university also vouched for the sorority sisters, with one user writing, “This sorority is literally the gayest one there like … so many of the girls in the house and in that vid are queer.”

It’s true that historically, Greek life organizations like fraternities and sororities haven’t been welcoming to queer folks. But in modern Greek life, that isn’t always the case, and accusing strangers of homophobia simply over a stereotype is never the move.

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