Rock Star Accused Of Tough Working Conditions
So, here’s what’s going down with Hayley Williams, the lead singer of Paramore and co-founder of the hair dye company Good Dye Young (GDY).
Recently, she’s found herself in some hot water after a message from GDY about World Mental Health Day sparked an unexpected backlash. The issue? Former employees from her Nashville-based hair salon, Fruits Hair Lab, are accusing her of fostering a toxic work environment. And the irony is thick because Williams’s mental health advocacy post was called “performative” by those who say their own mental health suffered under her management.
It all started with a flood of Instagram comments from former employees who claimed that working at Fruits Hair Lab was the reason they needed therapy in the first place. One commenter put it bluntly, saying that when they brought the issues directly to Williams, they were ignored. And that opened the floodgates.
More former employees chimed in, agreeing with the accusation and calling the mental health post fake. But the real heat came when users began accusing GDY of deleting those negative comments. People weren’t happy. “Deleting comments and not holding yourself accountable for the harm you caused is super gross,” one person wrote. Another said, “We see the comments being deleted,” adding that it’s a bad look for a company supposedly supporting mental health.
not to come back to this but hayley has now commented on everything https://t.co/hQXm1V9VYh pic.twitter.com/pBkGTZOYcO
— ash 🙂 (@hiimynameisash) October 12, 2024
These accusations led to an outcry from Instagram users, questioning why comments from ex-employees—some of whom claimed they uprooted their lives for the company—were being removed. There was a growing sense of betrayal among the former staff, as they claimed their voices were being silenced by a company supposedly advocating for mental well-being. And the pressure built when users demanded that Williams and GDY address these allegations and make things right, particularly when it came to fair wages.
Williams eventually responded with a statement on Instagram, and she wasn’t pulling any punches. She began by distancing herself from the day-to-day operations of the salon, saying she had only interacted with stylists a handful of times. According to Williams, a salon manager had been in charge from the start because she and her co-founder, Brian, were rarely in Nashville. She pointed out that after a group of employees left, the remaining team reported that the salon environment became “more positive and less toxic.” That’s a pretty bold statement in itself, but she left it up to the audience to interpret what they wanted from that.
On top of that, Williams flat-out denied that GDY or Fruits had deleted any comments, saying that the claims were provably false and hinting that there was a lot more to the story than she was willing to share publicly. She also made it clear that she was tired of attacks on her character, stating, “From now on, I will no longer hold my team back from stopping assholes who are trying to take advantage of and attack my character.”
Then, Williams dropped some significant news: GDY and Fruits employees would soon receive unlimited mental health services as part of their health insurance package, starting November 1. She mentioned that this decision had been communicated to staff privately but sarcastically added, “If keeping that private was performative, well then fuck me, I guess.”
This all comes just weeks after Williams interrupted a Paramore concert to take a jab at Donald Trump, accusing him of wanting to “punish” poor people, women, and minorities. She referenced “Project 2025,” a plan critics claim would roll back civil rights protections, though Trump has not explicitly endorsed it. It’s clear that Williams’s outspokenness on political and social issues has made her a target for controversy, especially as she now faces backlash over how her own businesses are being run.