Halsey recently released her third album “Manic” and has made it clear multiple times that it’s not about her past relationships. In an interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, she said the album is about of her life in the past few years. She made songs about her exes G-Eazy (“Without Me“) and Yungblud (“Finally // Beautiful Stranger”), but they’re meant to be chapters in the album, not the whole story.
During a pre-Super Bowl show in Miami last Feb. 1, Halsey confronted a fan who kept shouting G-Eazy’s name while she was talking on stage. “If you say G-Eazy one more f***ing time I will kick you out of this party,” she said. “You’re not going to disrespect me at my own f***ing show!” Fans cheered on Halsey for standing up for herself at the show.
However, some people didn’t like how Halsey acted, calling her “unstable” and saying she shouldn’t have “overreacted” on stage.
This is another classic example of women being called crazy when they express anger, especially when it’s a valid reaction to a disrespectful interaction. The use of words like “unstable” is usually meant to insult women and discredit their emotions. It can also be traced back to the archaic notion that women are mentally ill.
When men get angry, people usually let them be because it’s expected of them. But women? We’re still expected to be calm and proper when someone gets on our nerves. Basically, we’re not allowed to get angry.
In Halsey’s case, she had every right to lash out on the fan. She hinted multiple times that G-Eazy cheated on her, which led to their breakup in 2018. Although Halsey never explicitly admitted it, fans confirmed it when she performed “Without Me” on “Saturday Night Live” in 2019. Her backdrop had the phrase “I’m so sorry, Ashley, I cheated” scribbled on it. One fan listed down what was written on the backdrop and came to the conclusion that Halsey used G-Eazy’s alleged admission that he cheated on her in 11 cities.
The singer addressed the incident on Instagram Stories: “Don’t ever let someone make [you] feel crazy or unhinged ’cause [you’re] a woman standing up for [yourself.] Don’t tolerate disrespect in the name of being ‘nice.'”
She also called out netizens who flooded one of her posts with G-Eazy’s name. “I see y’all in the comments. And I know you think you’re funny. ‘Cause you’re at home on your iPhone and I’m not a real human being to you. I hope to God you never have to experience an abusive relationship. And if you do, I hope the world is kinder to you than you are to me,” wrote Halsey in an Instagram comment.
Of course, we don’t know the whole story about Halsey and G-Eazy’s failed relationship. But it is still disrespectful to hound someone with their ex’s name, be it in person or online. And even if it was meant as a joke, we don’t really know what happened between them. As Halsey claimed, she was in an abusive relationship. Who would want to be reminded of that at their own show?
Halsey also said in her Apple Music interview that she’s done with thinking she didn’t matter because her musician boyfriend or ex was more influential than her. “It’s thinking, ‘Well, they respect his opinion, so if he likes me, they will too.’ Whoa! Wrong. This should be about me,” she said of her song “I Hate Everybody.”
You may not agree with how Halsey handled the situation, but what we’re not going to do is call her or any woman unstable for standing up for themselves against insensitive and sexist comments.
Screengrab from YouTube
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