Jake Tapper’s daughter Alice Paul Tapper was not unlike the many Gen Zers who were forced to explain “brat” to their parents this summer.
The CNN anchor and his 17-year-old daughter appeared on Late Night With Seth Meyers on October 11, where the teen described alerting her dad to the “Kamala is brat” phenomenon. Following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the 2024 race, Vice President Kamala Harris received an unlikely endorsement from British pop star Charli XCX, whose sixth studio album brat was released last June to rave reviews.
“Kamala IS brat,” she wrote on X/Twitter, capitalizing on the ongoing “brat summer” trend.
Speaking to host Seth Meyers, Alice revealed that she was the one who inspired her father to cover “brat summer” in a now-viral CNN segment.
“Everyone was freaking out online, and my friends were just listening to brat all summer. So, I thought it was so funny that she got politics involved with the album. I was obsessed with it for the whole summer,” Alice told Meyers.
Jake explained that his then-16-year-old daughter had alerted him to the Kamala HQ social media account changing its banner to a version of Charli XCX’s lime-green album cover. “I told my staff, ‘We really need to talk about this, because this is the most interesting thing happening today,’” he recalled.
However, in true daughter fashion, Alice joked that the “brat” phenomenon turned sour for her once her father became aware of the trend. “Well, once he started getting involved, it started becoming a little bit more distasteful for me just because I was like, ‘Why are you trying to get involved in my business?’” she told Meyers.
As for whether Jake “achieved” being “brat,” the teenager admitted that it was up “for Charli XCX to decide.”
Weeks after her three-word X post helped kickstart Harris’s hugely successful presidential campaign, Charli XCX – real name Charlotte Emma Aitchison – spoke about the unexpected phenomenon in an interview with Vulture.
The “Apple” artist admitted that she didn’t necessarily mean for her message to be construed as a political endorsement, and that she simply wanted it to be “something positive and lighthearted.”
“To be on the right side of democracy, the right side of women’s rights, is hugely important to me. I’m happy to help to prevent democracy from failing forever,” Charli said.
“I obviously knew what I was doing. Did I think me talking about being a messy b**** and, like, partying and needing a Bic lighter and a pack of Marlboro Lights would end up on CNN? No.”
Sadly, the “Guess” singer announced the end of “brat summer” on September 2, three weeks before the Autumn Equinox. “Goodbye forever brat summer,” she wrote on X/Twitter, much to the disappointment of fans.
