Well I hope that DaBaby has a good DaPublicist. This is because in recent weeks Charlotte rapper DaBaby has found himself in hot water, after making homophobic remarks during his Rolling Loud set. During his July 25th concert, DaBaby made false, and degrading comments about gay men, insinuating that they have HIV. During the concert, the rapper asked fans to raise their phones in the air if they did not have HIV, AIDS, or another sexually transmitted disease “that’ll make you die in two to three weeks,” according to the New York Times.
After the initial public backlash to the remarks, DaBaby (whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk), took to Instagram to defend his comments. In a later post he tried to explain himself: “I wasn’t going on a rant. That’s called a call to action. That’s what that’s called, cause I’m a live performer,” he said. “I’m the best live performer.”
However, the rapper continued to face swift backlash, both for his initial remarks and his refusal to take accountability for them. Very quickly, other celebrities such as Elton, Madonna, and Dua Lipa began calling him out. Dua Lipa, who collaborated with DaBaby on her song: “Levitating” stated that she was “surprised and horrified at DaBaby’s comments.”
However, even this backlash wasn’t enough to make DaBaby change his tune. In fact, it wasn’t until music festival Lollapalooza announced that they were dropping DaBaby’s set on August 1st that the rapper finally decided that it was time to apologize. In a Twitter post, the official Lollapalooza account stated: “Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight.” The festival then announced that Young Thug will be performing in his place.
Several hours after this announcement, DaBaby decided to issue an official apology for his remarks. “I want to apologize to the LBGTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made,” he stated in an Instagram post. “Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important. Love to all. God bless.”
However, at this point, it seemed as though the fire might’ve been a bit too large for DaBaby to put out, and several other concerts and music festivals have now followed Lollapalooza’s lead. The Day N Vegas festival, which is set to happen in November, has already dropped DaBaby, and substituted the rapper with Roddy Ricch. And the Governors Ball, which DaBaby was supposed to perform at on September 24th, has already removed his name from the lineup. The rapper has also lost several brand deals, including a deal with clothing brand boohooMAN, according to The New York Times.
Barring all of this, DaBaby was already in hot water due to his Rolling Loud performance, after the rapper decided to bring on stage rapper Tory Lanez directly after Meghan Thee Stallion’s performance. This rubbed fans the wrong way due to an incident that occured between Meghan and Tory back in June of 2020, in which Tory ultimately ended up shooting Meghan in both of her feet. In response, Meghan was very outspoken with her criticism of the rapper, stating: “Support me in private and publicly do something different…these industry men are very strange. This situation ain’t no damn ‘beef’ and I really wish people would stop down playing it like it’s some internet shit for likes and retweets.”
While both incidents alone could be considered a PR nightmare, together, they make it very difficult for the rapper to ever garner a public reconciliation. Regardless of his official apologies, fans seem unlikely to continue supporting the rapper, and brands seem to have branded him as ‘untouchable’ in a sense. At this time, DaPublicist can not be reached for immediate comment. Maybe they are too busy hunting for a new job?
Pictures:
Although singer Dua Lipa may have collaborated with DaBaby in the past, she was very quick to call out the rapper’s homophobic remarks. Photo thanks to Twitter.
DaBaby and Meghan thee Stallion have been long term collaborators, and even performed together during Rolling Loud. Thus, DaBaby’s support for Tory Lanez was a clear betrayal of Meghan thee Stallion’s trust in the rapper. Photo sourced through XXL Mag.