Reneé Rapp Wins Outstanding Music Artist at GLAAD Awards

Reneé Rapp acknowledged her privileges and called for a ceasefire in Gaza as she accepted the award for Outstanding Music Artist at the 35th GLAAD Media Awards.

Since 1990, the GLAAD Media Awards have recognized a diverse range of media, including film, television, journalism, and music, that authentically and fairly portray and help to advocate for the LGBTQ community.

Hosted by actor Wayne Brady at The Beverly Hilton hotel in Los Angeles, the 35th GLAAD Media awards ceremony honored Niecy Nash-Betts and Oprah Winfrey for their continuous fight for inclusivity and equality in media representation, as well as many others.

Through their two musical categories, GLAAD also acknowledged two queer musicians who have been celebrated for their openness.

While David Archuleta won the award for Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist, singer and actress Reneé Rapp took home the award for Outstanding Music Artist for her debut album, Snow Angel.

In true Reneé Rapp fashion, the 24-year-old covered a lot of ground within her two-minute GLAAD Award acceptance speech.

“Thanks, guys, I appreciate it. I talk a lot, I talk a good amount. If you know me, you’re well aware. If you don’t know me, you’re also probably well aware,” Rapp laughed as she got to the mic after receiving her award from Green Day frontman, Billie Joe Armstrong. After pulling out her phone to read the speech she had written in case she were to win and getting distracted by her award statuette, the “Pretty Girls” singer nodded to her parents, who were in attendance alongside brother Charles, manager Adam Mersel and queer musician Towa Bird, who opened for Rapp on tour. “My parents are straight, but they’re here,” Rapp joked before getting a little more serious and thanking her peers.

“I don’t have much else to say other than I feel very lucky to be recognized amongst the company of these artists and creatives that I admire,” Rapp continued, nodding at the nine other artists she was running up against for the award, including Miley Cyrus, Sam Smith and Victoria Monét. The singer then gave a special shout out to the latter, whom she’s been a fan of for a while. “She is one of the greatest songwriters in the industry and inspired me a ton as a kid and I just met her the other night and I was very drunk and I was like ‘I love you so much’, and she was like ‘thank you’, and I was like ‘no but really,'” Rapp recalled in one breath, making the audience cheer. “So I love Victoria Monét, that’s the first part, that’s the first thing.”

“I really love my identity,” Rapp went on, having recently come out as a lesbian after spending a few years identifying as a bisexual woman. “I feel lucky that we have spaces and organizations like GLAAD that recognize us for our talent, and of course for how hot we are. The hottest people are gay, no one’s surprised,” Rapp laughed, elliciting more clapping and celebration from the audience.

“We’re in a room of very influential people and very privileged people, which is exciting and also is a huge privilege to be a part of that,” Rapp added. “Having said that I’d like to take the opportunity to show support and call for an immediate ceasefire and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.” It’s not the first time the young singer has been vocal about her support, frequently using her TikTok account to share and repost videos about the ongoing conflict.

“Please continue to advocate for yourselves,” Rapp concluded. “Continue to advocate for your friends, for your queer friends, and for those who can’t advocate for themselves.”

The Outstanding Music Artist GLAAD Award marks Reneé Rapp’s first time winning an award since the beginning of her solo music career. In the past, Rapp had only ever been awarded as an actress, having won the award for Best Performance by an Actress at the 2018 Jimmy Awards.