Hayley Williams Doesn’t Want Racist, Sexist, Transphobic People at Concerts

Hayley Williams has a message for her audience members.

Speaking with Clash Magazine for a recent cover story ahead of her first solo tour, for her new album Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, the Paramore frontwoman stated that she wants all crowd members to feel welcome at her concerts.

“I’ve just always felt very grateful that our band can be a part of that conversation. It’s so important that people feel welcome to the party,” Williams, 36, told the outlet. “I’ve always said, all are welcome at our shows. But I don’t want racists around, and I don’t want sexist people around, and I don’t want people there who think that trans people are a burden.”

“I think that’s a hard line for me now. I hope it naturally happens that people who do harbour those harmful ideologies aren’t going to feel welcome, because they’re going to walk in the door and realize that the gang’s all here, all banded together around something positive,” Williams continued. “All are welcome if you believe all should be welcome… If you don’t believe that, you’re not welcome!”

Williams has long been an outspoken advocate for marginalized communities. In 2023, the singer called out two bills in Tennessee that targeted the LGBTQ+ community in the state. During Paramore’s set at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in September 2024, Williams also spoke out against the Project 2025 initiative launched by allies of President Donald Trump, which took aim at reproductive rights, immigration and DEI initiatives, among other issues.

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The artist’s new album — which earned Williams four Grammy nominations, including best alternative music album — sees the rocker reflecting on her upbringing in a Southern Christian community, as well as the history of racial tensions in the area.

“I’m never not ready to scream at the top of my lungs about racial issues,” Williams said during an appearance on the New York Times’ Popcast podcast on Oct. 1. “I don’t know why that became the thing that gets me the most angry. I think because it’s so intersectional that it overlaps with everything from climate change to LGBTQIA+ issues.”

“While I was deconstructing my faith and my religious upbringing from around age 19, I really didn’t realize how much of Paramore for me was a religious experience, a God pillar in my life,” she continued.

Williams has released several solo records, including 2020’s Petals for Armor and 2021’s Flowers for Vases / Descansos. The singer told Clash that making her latest album felt like “getting back to the beginning of what made me fall in love with music.”

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“This entire experience has been an exercise of holding a lot of truth,” Williams said. “It’s a lesson I keep coming back to, and in 2025 it’s just hit me like a hammer. It’s like a brick to the face, you know, and this album was my way of moving through it.”

Williams’ cross-country solo tour kicks off in Atlanta on March 27, 2026 and ends in Los Angeles on May 15, 2026.