Olivia Rodrigo revealed some of her fans have taken desperate measures to stay in their front row seats throughout her concerts.
The 23-year-old pop act dropped the bombshell while promoting her new album You Seem Pretty Sad for a Girl So in Love on KISS FM UK.
‘I have been to certain concerts and certain festivals where people wear diapers so that they can be front row of the show,’ she said.
‘And that’s been an experience as a performer that I have smelled,’ Rodrigo continued, to flabbergasted reactions from her hosts.
The practice she was describing has taken various forms over the years, such as the Stadium Pal, a novelty device from the 1990s that men can attach to their members and urinate into at sporting events to avoid the interminable bathroom lines.
During Taylor Swift’s juggernaut Eras Tour, some audience members also posted to TikTok admitting they were wearing adult diapers in order not to miss any of the show, having paid eyewatering prices for their tickets.
Olivia Rodrigo has revealed some of her fans have taken to wearing diapers so that they can stay in their front row seats throughout her concerts
‘I have been to certain concerts and certain festivals where people wear diapers so that they can be front row of the show,’ she said
Rodrigo’s disclosure comes after she issued a furious response to trolls who accused her of ‘pedo-baiting’ with one of her concert outfits.
She had appeared onstage in May wearing a babydoll dress with combat boots, an ensemble reminiscent of Courtney Love during her 1990s heyday in the band Hole.
Rodrigo’s costume set off a feverish moral panic on social media, where she was heaped with allegations of sexualizing children.
Her controversy erupted in the wake of a similar uproar over a Euphoria scene in which the Sydney Sweeney character Cassie dresses as a baby for an OnlyFans shoot.
Rodrigo turned around and insisted her critics were the ones demonstrating ‘how we really normalize pedophilia in our culture,’ on the New York Times’ Popcast.
She confessed she was ‘so upset’ over the furor, which to her rang with the echo of ‘this rhetoric we’re fed as girls since we’re so little, which is: “Don’t wear that because then a man is going to sexualize your body and it’s your fault.”‘
When the subject of the dress was raised to her, she said: ‘That’s been making me so upset. Not even for me. I don’t care. People can say whatever they want.’
The former child star found the backlash ‘disturbing’ because ‘I feel like I actually have worn outfits that are maybe revealing onstage. I’ve been onstage in a sparkly bra and little shorts – which is my right. That’s fun. I felt cool and comfortable in that.’
Rodrigo recently issued a furious response to the online trolls who accused her of ‘pedo-baiting’ with one of her concert outfits; pictured last month in Barcelona
The 23-year-old appeared onstage in a babydoll dress with combat boots, an ensemble reminiscent of Courtney Love during her 1990s heyday in the band Hole
Rodrigo observed that ‘that wasn’t inappropriate, but me fully covered up in a dress that people deemed to be childlike was inappropriate.’
As for the babydoll dress itself, she ‘didn’t think that I looked sexy in that at all. I was like: “This is so cool. I feel like I look like Kathleen Hanna or Courtney Love, all these people who are my heroes.” And I felt cool and comfortable in it.’
Rodrigo’s view was that ‘if we start dressing in a way that’s like: “I don’t want some f***ing freak to think that I am sexy like a baby,” or some crazy thing like that, I think it’s losing the plot a little bit.’
She maintained that she was ‘just very protective of younger women and girls and I don’t ever want them to be fed that rhetoric, I guess.’
Her counterpoint to the ‘weird’ blowback was to argue that ‘you shouldn’t be responsible for some guy sexualizing you in a way that was never your intention.’
Rodrigo’s critics were roundly unpersuaded by her defense of the dress and gave vent to their outrage in the comments of an Instagram clip from her interview.
Her controversy came in the wake of a similar uproar over a Euphoria scene in which the Sydney Sweeney character Cassie dresses as a baby for an OnlyFans shoot
Courtney Love was one of the 1990s rock starlets who pioneered the use of babydoll dresses in a trend that became known as ‘kinderw****’
Love posted an snap of herself exasperatedly covering her face whilst ‘in my babydoll dress and bloomers watching Olivia Rodrigo get cooked by angry twitter users’
They left livid responses like: ‘GIRL YOU’RE THE ONE NORMALIZING IT,’ and: ‘But… her outfit played into the sexualization of little kid outfits!’
‘This is normalizing it,’ another viewer snapped. ‘It’s more straightforward to just wear a bra. I don’t think it’s confusing. She knows what she is doing. Own it.’
‘Tbh i just know these clothes are for toddlers….and grown women wearing toddlers clothes is off,’ wrote a third commenter on Instagram.
‘She is so unaware,’ sighed still another social media user. ‘There is a reason it is called baby doll dress. She says all my body is covered lol That’s not the issue, wearing a bikini would be more appropriate.’
When the controversy first took off, Rodrigo received a vote of confidence from Courtney Love, one of the 1990s rock starlets who pioneered the use of babydoll dresses in a trend that became known as ‘kinderw****.’
Rodrigo has drawn direct inspiration from Love before, most famously in a promotional image for her 2021 single Sour Prom (pictured)
The shot depicted Rodrigo as a prom queen crying so much her mascara ran, in a take-off on Love’s look from the cover of the 1994 Hole album Live Through This (pictured)
Love posted a snap of herself exasperatedly covering her face whilst ‘in my babydoll dress and bloomers watching Olivia Rodrigo get cooked by angry twitter users.’
Rodrigo has drawn direct inspiration from Love before, most famously in a promotional image for her 2021 single Sour Prom.
The shot depicted Rodrigo as a prom queen crying so much her mascara ran, in a take-off on Love’s look from the cover of the 1994 Hole album Live Through This.
In response to a fan query at the time, Love expressed a touch of chagrin that Rodrigo ‘didn’t ask’ for her approval of the pastiche, adding pointedly: ‘I dig manners.’
Rodrigo extended an olive branch by writing to her on Instagram: ‘love u and live through this sooooo much,’ to which Love responded by requesting, possibly in jest, a more formal gesture of gratitude in the shape of flowers and a card.
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