Former Chelsea and Arsenal player Jorginho may be best known as a defensive midfielder – but he has gone viral on social media for his attack on pop singer Chappell Roan, alleging her security guard reduced his 11-year-old daughter to tears.
The 34-year-old Italy international, who has dual Brazilian citizenship and now plays for Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, claimed in a post on Instagram, external that his family suffered the “very upsetting situation” over breakfast at a hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The former Premier League midfielder said his daughter was a big Roan fan and had made a sign to take to the Lollapalooza music festival in Sao Paulo, which the singer was headlining.
He says his daughter recognised the star while eating at a nearby table and walked past her, smiled, then went back to her seat without saying anything or asking anything of the Pink Pony Club singer.
“What happened next was completely disproportionate,” he wrote.
“A large security guard came over to their table while they were still having breakfast and began speaking in an extremely aggressive manner to both my wife [Catherine Harding] and my daughter, saying that she shouldn’t allow my daughter to ‘disrespect’ or ‘harass’ other people.”
He added: “He even said he would file a complaint against them with the hotel, while my 11-year-old daughter was sitting there in tears. My daughter was extremely shaken and cried a lot.”
Roan responded to Jorginho’s claims on Sunday afternoon in an Instagram post, external, saying in a video on her story that she felt “sad for the mother and child” who “did not deserve that” but added that she had not been aware of the incident and it did not involve her “own personal security”.
“I didn’t even see a woman and child – no-one came up to me, no-one bothered me,” said the American singer.
“I was just sitting at breakfast in my hotel…I did not ask the security guard to go up and talk to this mother and child. 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 [that] because there is no action even taken.
“I do not hate people who are fans of my music. I do not hate children, that is crazy.
“I am sorry to the mother and child that someone was assuming something, that you were doing something. If you felt uncomfortable that makes me really sad. You did not deserve that.”
Before her response, Jorginho had said he understood well the pressures of public attention after playing 57 times for Italy – helping them win the European title in 2021 by beating England at Wembley.
He has also played for elite clubs across Europe and Brazil – winning the Champions League and Europa League with Chelsea and silverware in Italy with Napoli.
But he added: “I understand very well what respect and boundaries are. What happened there was not that. It was just a child admiring someone.
“It’s sad to see this kind of treatment coming from those who should understand the importance of fans. At the end of the day, they are the ones who build all of this.
“I sincerely hope this serves as a moment of reflection. No-one should have to go through this, especially not a child.”
Jorginho finished his impassioned post with a direct message to Roan, written in capital letters: “WITHOUT YOUR FANS, YOU WOULD BE NOTHING. AND TO THE FANS, SHE DOES NOT DESERVE YOUR AFFECTION.”
The “unexpected beef”, as described by some commentators, led to a flood of responses on social media in support of Jorginho and his family – some serious, some tongue-in-cheek.
Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Eduardo Cavaliere, wrote that he intended to ban Roan from performing in his city, adding that Jorginho’s daughter would be invited as a guest of honour to the city’s Todo Mundo music festival in May.
Others cited her previous comments about fans’ “creepy” and “stalker-like-behaviour”, external.
Some also poked fun at the Grammy Award winner for lacking the credentials to play in the Premier League.
