‘Vote DeSantis and you’re f—— dead to me’ Paramore singer yells at fans

Hayley Williams, lead singer of the rock band Paramore, interrupted her own band’s concert to tell fans not to support the Florida state governor, Ron DeSantis.

Headlining the Adjacent Music Festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey, the 34-year-old singer seized the opportunity to air her opinion publicly of the presidential candidate.

Her announcement came after DeSantis declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential election on Twitter with the help of its owner, Elon Musk. According to the online media outlet Clutchpoints, DeSantis was “openly homophobic, signing bills that are hostile towards LGBTQ individuals and their rights”.

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It also reported that he signed the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill — an attempt to stop schools discussing sexual orientation and gender identity. He also opposed a Bill aimed at ending discrimination against LGBTQ people in housing and employment. In another, he supported a law “allowing businesses to deny service to LGBTQ people based on religious beliefs.”

In response, Williams, who with Paramore played two sellout concerts at London’s O2 Arena last month, interrupted one of her latest gigs to tell her audience that “I don’t care where you’re from, I don’t care what you look like, I don’t care who you love — you’re all equal,” before going on to say “if you vote for Ron DeSantis you’re f—— dead to me“.

The conservative governor has been attacked by the left for his support of the 2022 Parental Rights in Education bill, which prohibits Florida public schools from teaching third-grade students and younger about sexual orientation or gender identity and limits the information taught in higher grades.

“We have seen curriculum embedded for very, very young children, classroom materials about sexuality and woke gender ideology,” DeSantis said when he signed the Bill. “We have seen libraries that have clearly inappropriate pornographic materials for very young kids.”

According to an article in the Arizona-based Western Journal, critics called the legislation the “Don’t Say Gay” Bill. During a Florida concert last year, Williams used that description to take aim at DeSantis and Republican politicians, chanting the word “gay” over and over.

“The only reason that I’m not moving to Florida is apparently we can’t say gay here … But tonight we are going to break a record,” she said at the time. “We are going to say gay more times than we have ever said in our collective lives, OK?”

During her Atlantic City gig, she said: “A Paramore show is a place to forget how sh—y the world loves to treat everyone but especially, yeah, especially those in marginalized communities, OK? Tonight, everyone here — I don’t care where you’re from, I don’t care what you look like, I don’t care who you love — you’re all equal and we’re just here to enjoy music.

“The world’s hard enough and I saw, y’know, some time yesterday (I’m not really supposed to be on the internet — why do I ever log on I don’t know) but I did see someone say that they wish they felt more comfortable talking politics on tour. Well I’ll be happy to tell you I’m very f—— comfortable talking politics… I just… and if you vote for Ron DeSantis you’re f—— dead to me. So is that comfortable enough for anyone? But when we come to shows, it’s just nice to forget, y’know, just for an hour or two, right? It is nice to forget.”

Her comments divided opinion on the internet, with many backing her, adding that Paramore would feature more on their playlists, while others claimed that music and politics, like oil and water, do not mix.

One commented: “This singer should sing and leave her political tongue whipping to those who are intelligent people. The language she used was nasty and ugly. Makes you wonder what kind of person she is…”