Over the weekend, rapper DaBaby performed at Rolling Loud. At some point during his set, he decided to say a lot of repulsive crap about LGBTQ people and people who are HIV-positive. His statements were like a revival of the worst homophobia of the 1980s and 1990s. I’m not even going to print the exact quotes, so let’s just go with People Magazine’s coverage:
During his set at Rolling Loud on Sunday, DaBaby, 29, went on a homophobic rant and made disparaging comments about gay men infected with HIV. He later went on Instagram Live and spewed further ignorance surrounding the disease, saying that those who get infected are “stupid ass n—s” and described HIV-positive folks as “nasty” and “junkies on the street.”
On Tuesday, DaBaby issued an apology — writing on Twitter, “Anybody who done ever been effected by AIDS/HIV y’all got the right to be upset, what I said was insensitive even though I have no intentions on offending anybody. So my apologies.”
So, you get it. He was homophobic as hell and he thinks HIV is exclusive to the gay community. It’s all just completely deplorable. Well, DaBaby did a collaboration with Dua Lipa for her hit song “Levitating” – which came out last year – and so now Dua is getting dragged into his mess. Dua is all about dance music and she is very LGBTQ-friendly, so of course she’s appalled:
Dua Lipa is standing by her LGBTQ fans. On Tuesday, Lipa, 25, addressed her fans directly after DaBaby — who is featured on her hit “Levitating” — made derogatory comments about members of the LGBTQ community and those living with HIV and AIDS during a weekend festival set.
“I’m surprised and horrified at DaBaby’s comments,” she wrote on her Instagram Story. “I really don’t recognize this as the person I worked with. I know my fans know where my heart lies and that I stand 100% with the LGTBQ community. We need to come together to fight the stigma and ignorance around HIV/AIDS.”
Fans of Lipa have asked her to replace DaBaby on the remix, which has gone viral on radio.
There’s actually already a DaBaby-free edit of “Levitating.” Maybe they’ll do another DaBaby-free remix or something! Anyway, of course Dua is not responsible for DaBaby’s homophobia and HIV-stigma. She probably had no clue that he held those opinions.
you know who's going thru it right now? dapublicist
— Desus Nice (@desusnice) July 27, 2021
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
How can you come out with an apology saying ” have no intentions on offending anybody” when what you said was extremely offensive to EVERYONE. You knew exactly what you were doing.
EXACTLY. You knew what you were saying was offensive and went right ahead. So yeah, you did exactly what you intended.
honestly, doesn’t even matter what his intent was because that shouldn’t be how we measure if something is offensive/discriminatory. I’m getting sick of intent being the go-to defence for racism/homophobia/sexism etc, especially when this ish is so much in the water that people may not have self-awareness but still do harm.
it’s the impact that matters and someone who is really sorry or accountable would recognize that.
something nice: dua lipa is very pretty
All these homophobic black men (this guy, lakeith stanfield, etc) sure love taking fashion tips from gay men.
Oh, no! What happened with Lakeith Stanfield?
This is what I found: https://variety.com/2018/film/news/lakeith-stanfield-apology-apologizes-freestyle-homophobic-lyrics-1202858990/
Not a great apology (um just don’t adopt characters who are homophobic?) in my opinion.
I hope he meant it, though, and he hasn’t said or demonstrated homophobia since so I sincerely hope he has genuinely learned. I can understand that maybe he grew up in culture of casual homophobia, but it’s not an excuse and he needs to understand that’s harmful and do better.
@Calypso Thanks!
lol just like racists sure love their Black athletes/entertainers – it’s all good when it serves them
Sorry…but I’m a gay man and I don’t think any other gay guy would be caught dead wearing that loud tacky ass gay suit and hat. Also he sure seems to know quite a bit about sucking D in parking lots. Just sayin… To play Devil’s advocate, the only difference between parking lot D and penthouse D is location, location, location.
That’s gross. Homophobia and discrimination against HIV-positive people is not okay. I seriously struggle with people who are homophobic, I recently cut ties with a friend who said anti-LGBTQ+ stuff at a party. I don’t want that negative energy in my life.
I like DaBaby generally but his songs will be a hard pass from now on.
This.
I lol’ed at that last line in the People article: “…which has gone viral on radio.” People, I don’t think you understand what going viral means.
But anyways, Dababy sucks and Dua is right to be appalled.
it’s also totally not how radio works! they receive lists of what to play, and in which timeslot. very few stations give their DJs any choice in programming. I’d laugh but it’s actually really sad.
Wow, a big wtf? I don’t know if it’s better that people come out publicly with their ignorance or not so we know to not support them or the ignorant and stupid should just stay silent. I have the same question I haven’t answered yet for racists and Trump supporters (they’re one in the same). This is absolutely deplorable.
His so-called apology came after he said on his Instagram stories that he wasn’t going to apologize, because his gay fans were cool and didn’t have HIV/AIDS because they’re not “nasty gay n****s” or “junkies.”
Can’t wait to never hear about him again!
I wish I took her apology seriously considering she chose to work with him regardless of his huge list of problematic behavior
He’s associated with a murder
He has been involved with multiple battery charges for punching and beating people
He punched a black woman
He’s a misogynistic and the list goes on
But I guess that wasn’t a concern when it came to collaborating
C’mon!!!! what a sanctimonious no thought post is that?
How do you survive in life then? Are you implying that you check anyone’s criminal record before accepting getting paid, exchange, accept money?
him punching and beating people up have occurred on and off throughout all of the 2020…no need to check his criminal record when he’s continuously trending for it…..there’s no way her team didn’t know about it
Agreed. Such folks should not given a bigger platform.
Yes, she is the one who needs to work on her apology. Are you for f-ing real? Dua isn’t responsible for Da Baby. Why the f do women keep getting blamed for the actions of their partners, coworkers, collaborators, etc? Time to check your f-ing misogyny, my god.
This, 100%. It’s sad that she was even pulled into this mess and had to make a statement (but I’m glad that she did and I get why she would want to distance herself from this idiot ).
No really did he just walk through a portal from the 90s and miss decades of social progress?
Oh no, he’s all about Black Lives Matter…just not gay Black lives. I’m so disappointed in him because I think he’s really talented and had a great future. I wonder if this will really affect his career or not. People forget easily.
It’s bizarre then. He seems very young so he wasn’t even alive when AIDS was a pandemic level threat. And was clearly born after it stopped being considered a “gay disease.” And he’s certainly been around to witness cancel culture so WTaF was his plan here with full knowledge that his rant was inaccurate and likely to get him cancelled?
ENOUGH.
His first statement was not an apology. Oh, and T.I. spoke up in his defense. That says it all.
Once again, a woman has to account for the actions of a man. DaBaby has worked with a lot of people in the music industry, but somehow people only want Dua Lipa to answer for DaBaby’s disgusting comments.
+1 there’s even commenters here calling HER out and not him. So gross.
I’m not familiar with his music, I think he was on SNL last season and I remember thinking how dumb his name was. Hip hop has a long history of being anti gay and it’s been ignored for decades (while other genres have been called out and forced to change with the times) so I’m not too surprised. Not Dua’s fault though but he sounds like he has other issues. Decent artists need to stop collaborating with these idiots (like Lady Gaga when she has a song with freaking R Kelly!). Google who you are doing a song with. If they have a history of abuse and being a holes, find someone else.
T.I., in true POS fashion, came to Dababy’s defense. His statement basically amounted to, “If Lil Nas X (who has nothing to do with this) can be openly gay, Dababy can be openly homophobic.” Homophobia is a rampant, pervasive problem amongst black men and this needs to change immediately in the year of our Lord 2021. This makes me even prouder of Lil Nas X and his bravery.
T.I. also said gay people have more rights than non-gay people. He actually said that. But then again this is the a$$hole that has a doctor check to make sure his daughter’s hymen is still in place.
/facepalm … T.I. seems to think that gay people existing openly without fear of persecution = special privileges. It makes me sick and his positively primeval stance on women’s autonomy along with these statements mean he should be canceled yesterday.
Ah, so T.I. is another one of those “Getting yelled at/getting attitude for being homophobic and misogynistic= marginalized status” tools. Of course. And these types never realize that they are actually the ones playing the victim. It’s always “instead of stifling 😭 me and my likeminded relics, take accountability for our abuse and stop putting yourself out there kiddo.” I’m proud of Lil Nas X too and hope he doesn’t take any of the crap he’s being blamed for to heart.
Lil Nax X is an icon who must be protected at all costs. Love him and everything he is so courageous to do with his art, his voice, everything.
Da Baby is Da Idiot for this. I watched the actual rant during and after the performance. He is disgusting. Let him rot off into the sunset and let’s support Lil Nas X and other artists who make music for EVERYONE.
I just read that Dababy called Tori Lanez on stage to sing with him when Meghan the Stallion just exited to backstage. She feels menaced and harassed by both men and believes Lanez broke his restraining order to keep 100 feet away from her. I think this news item deserves its own story. He shot her last summer! I mean, WTF? What moron takes pride in that or honors the criminal who did that? While the victim is right there? Crap.
I hope he gets in trouble for breaking the restraining order. I’m embarrassed as Tori is Canadian. He will get deported and we really don’t want him.
He won’t get in trouble. Black women almost never receive justice.
Side Note: Does Dua Lipa always look like the Barbie version to Kacey Musgraves’ Skipper? (That’s not shade – I love KM and Dua Lipa has some nice summer bops.)
Wait, can I be petty? .. as someone apart of the community Id like to ask, seriously, how does a man in the suit pictured in the article, the gold one, feel comfortable making gay remarks at all? He looks like Tim Gunn dressed him for starters…
Yes, you can be petty! ..as you have just displayed. How someone dresses does not demonstrate their sexual orientation.
Dictating what men should wear to appear “appropriately masculine” only reinforces toxic masculinity.
The same kind of masculinity that sees femininity as wrong, and therefore homosexuality as a betrayal. The kind of masculinity that forces women like Dua to apologize for something a man did. The same toxicity that makes us question her motives on doing it.
This might not seem like a big deal to you, but by reenforcing the existing gender norms (by essentially calling a man who dresses colourfully, gay), you are actually being misogynistic.
And Dababy can go fuck himself!