Don’t meet your heroes, they say. An interaction a fan says she had with Reneé Rapp at Coachella proves why.
Celebrities love Coachella just as much as us regular folks, and to avoid being swarmed by fans, they often stick to the VIP section. Yes, there are still a ton of fans in there (famous and not), but there are far less people, and the vibe is generally more relaxed, attendee and popular TikToker Slim (@this_is_slim) says.
In her video, Slim explains she’s been going to Coachella with her girlfriend, and specifically the VIP and artist sections, for the past five years. Because it’s a smaller crowd, the celebrities tend to be more relaxed and will even have a drink with a person they just met—famous or not. Slim says she’s even hung with some of the famous folks, like Billie Eilish’s brother Finneas, and danced with the duo Sofi Tukker.
Usually, Slim says she goes for those types of organic interactions over asking a celeb for a photo, but it was different when she saw Gen Z and queer icon Reneé Rapp, who was sitting with her five friends at the same bar Slim was at.
See, Slim says she is a fan, but her best friend is a super fan who’s traveled all over the world to see Rapp perform. Rapp is a singer, actress, and broadway star. Given that Slim’s BFF is a fan, Slim’s girlfriend encouraged her to ask for a picture with the star so she could show it to her bestie.
Slim says she does’t like to bother people but worked up the courage to approach Rapp for a photo, in part, because her public persona seemed so chill and down to earth.
“I think I should actually say I met Regina George,” Slim says. Rapp portrayed the infamous, head mean girl in the 2024 musical film.
Slim says she apologetically asked Rapp for a photo, and Rapp and her group of five stared at Slim for a moment before Rapp said, “Actually, no. I’m about to head out.”
Slim (who added that her first language isn’t English) says she was flustered by this response. She says she told Rapp the photo was for her best friend but that it was OK that Rapp didn’t want to take the picture.
“Yeah, it’s nice meeting you,” Slim says Rapp responded, while Rapp’s friends allegedly “stared down” Slim.
“I truly believe that artists owe us nothing in terms of taking a picture with us or anything at all. No one has to take a picture with you. No one has to take a second of their time just because you ask for it,” Slim says.
However, as she went back to her girlfriend and noticed that Rapp wasn’t making any moves to leave, the interaction stung more, Slim says. It wasn’t that Rapp declined the photo; it was that she lied about why and that Slim felt “super bullied” by the way Rapp’s group was staring her down.
@this_is_slim I legit thought it would be different </3 :( #coachella2024 #reneerapp #meangirls #lesbiansoftiktok #lgbtqtiktok ♬ Not my fault sped up – Abby :)
The video has more than 600,000 views and thousands of comments, but people were super conflicted. Some shared similar stories about Rapp.
“Omgggg same experience!! I had with her! She was so rude!” a person shared.
“My classmate met her when she was getting food at Gemma and she said she was extremely rude and not friendly. She also rejected an autograph,” another chimed in.
Others said they felt Rapp did nothing wrong.
“It seems like she just said no ?” a commenter questioned.
“I’ve met reneé and she is an absolute sweetheart. celebs have bad days too! they don’t owe u anything!” another shared.
And others had a bit more nuance.
“People in the comments are being rude. It’s not about her saying no it’s about how she went about it. Ur valid in ur experience!” a viewer said.
The Daily Dot reached out to Slim for comment via TikTok direct message and to Rapp’s team via email.
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