Paramore's Hayley Williams has long been pretty outspoken about politics, but it certainly seems as though her good friend Taylor Swift's Kamala Harris endorsement has empowered a lot of musicians, women especially, to speak out against Donald Trump. Williams was no exception when she donned a Debbie Harry-inspired look while performing at the iHeart Radio Festival in Las Vegas, NV, on Friday (September 20), pausing during the This Is Why track "Big Man, Little Dignity" to condemn the former president.
"Project 2025 is Donald Trump's playbook for controlling and punishing women, poor people, people of colour, and the LGBTQ community," the singer said, captured in fan footage and circulated on social media. "It is time for all Americans to band together and to finally defeat the Trump agenda. And the only way to do that is by confronting him at the polls. Do you want to live in a dictatorship? Well, show up and vote."
Some people on the website formerly known as Twitter — including the platform's current billionaire overlord Elon Musk, "one of the biggest pieces of shit to walk the fucking earth," as Conor Oberst so aptly put it — thought Williams's speech insincere, calling her a "paid actor" and accusing her of "reading from a script."
Last night (September 22), she shared one such condemnatory tweet to her Instagram story to clear things up, writing, "whoever you are, i typed out my speech and had a crew member hold it near the camera for me in case i got nervous bc what i had to say was important and i didn't want to trip up in the moment. didn't end up looking at it though… that's because i prepared."
The frontwoman continued, "finally, not only was i *not* paid to make the speech but we (paramore) didn't get paid to play that radio fest either. just out here kicking ass for free i guess :( thanks so much for your concern and for spelling my name right, bye!"
