DaBaby has released a second apology, addressing the controversial, homophobic remarks he made at Rolling Loud festival in Miami last month.
During his Rolling Loud set, DaBaby went on a bizarre, uninformed rant about the LGBTQ+ community and HIV.
“If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up.”
He also said, “Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up!”
In the days following DaBaby’s comments, widespread backlash ensued. The ‘ROCKSTAR’ rapper was dropped from Lollapalooza, the Governors Ball, and the Day N Vegas festival.
Collaborator Dua Lipa, who worked with DaBaby on a remix of her Future Nostalgia single ‘Levitating,’ took to Instagram stories to condemn his comments.
“I’m surprised and horrified at DaBaby’s comments,” she wrote. “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 LGBTQ community. We need to come together to fight the stigma and ignorance around HIV/AIDS.”
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Elton John criticized DaBaby for spreading HIV/AIDS misinformation, tweeting that such information “fuels stigma and discrimination”; whilst Madonna wrote on Instagram that she wanted “to put my cellphone lighter up and pray for your ignorance.”
Initially, DaBaby released a non-apology of sorts, posting a video explaining that his comments were not “nasty gay n****s” or “junkies.”
Now, DaBaby has finally released a sincere apology for his comments. “Social media moves so fast that people want to demolish you before you even have the opportunity to grow, educate, and learn from your mistakes,” DaBaby wrote in an Instagram post.
“As a man who has had to make his own way from very difficult circumstances, having people I know publicly working against me — knowing that what I need was education on these topics and guidance— has been challenging.”
DaBaby went on to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for “the hurtful and triggering comments” he made. “I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important.
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