WASHINGTON — After facing backlash over his homophobic remarks, rapper DaBaby recently met several HIV-awareness organizations. The organizations released a statement about the same.
In the statement, it’s reported that the members of the organizations discussed HIV facts and shared personal stories of living and thriving with HIV with DaBaby.
Also, the organizers called for the meeting in an open letter dated Aug. 4, 2021, to “call him in instead of calling him out.”
“During our meeting, DaBaby was genuinely engaged, apologized for the inaccurate and hurtful comments he made about people living with HIV, and received our personal stories and the truth about HIV and its impact on Black and LGBTQ communities with deep respect,” the statement read.
“We appreciate that he openly and eagerly participated in this forum of Black people living with HIV, which provided him an opportunity to learn and to receive accurate information.”
During his appearance at Rolling Loud on July 23, 2021, DaBaby reportedly asked fans who “didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS” and men who “ain’t sucking d — in the parking lot” to “put your cellphone lighter up (sic).”
The comments quickly sparked backlash on social media, and DaBaby was dropped from several music festivals.
American rapper and songwriter Kanye West removed a remix of his song ‘Nah Nah Nah’ featuring DaBaby from streaming services.
The remix, which was in 2020 and featured 2Chainz, disappeared from Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal in August 2021, and DaBaby was taken out from most of his upcoming live appearances.
He was publicly criticized by the LGBTQ organization Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and artists ranging from Elton John to former collaborator Dua Lipa, among many others.
After Lollapalooza was the first festival to drop DaBaby from its lineup in August 2021, New York City music festival Governor’s Ball followed suit, writing in a statement, “Founders Entertainment does not and will not tolerate hate or discrimination of any kind.”
DaBaby has posted two semi-apologies on Instagram and Twitter that were criticized for their seeming lack of sincerity. Then he removed the apology note from Instagram. However, his apology note on Twitter is still there.
“Anybody who done ever been affected 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. But the LGBT community… I ain’t trippin’ on y’all, do you. y’all business is y’all business (sic),” said DaBaby on Twitter while apologizing.
In his Instagram apology, which differs from the apology note he had posted on Twitter, DaBaby acknowledged that he “needed education” and guidance.
“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. As a man who has had to make his way from very difficult circumstances, having people I know publicly working against me — knowing that what I needed was an education on these topics and guidance — has been challenging,” DaBaby wrote in the now-deleted post.
(With inputs from ANI)
Edited by Ojaswin Kathuria and Nikita Nikhil
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