DaBaby has been hit with backlash over some homophobic remarks he made during his performance at Rolling Loud Miami on the weekend, and the rapper is now being schooled by music icon Elton John.
Sir Elton took to Twitter on Wednesday to lay down some facts in light of the rapper’s misinformed comments.
“If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two or three weeks, put your cellphone light in the air,” he told the crowd.
The “Tiny Dancer” singer felt it was important to counter those statements with facts.
“We’ve been shocked to read about the HIV misinformation and homophobic statements made at a recent DaBaby show. This fuels stigma and discrimination and is the opposite of what our world needs to fight the AIDS epidemic,” wrote the rocker, whose Elton John AIDS Foundation was established in the early 1990s and has since raised more than $600 million to fund AIDS-related programs in 55 countries.
Among the information he shared: HIV has affected more than 70 million people globally, and that a gay Black man has a 50 per cent lifetime chance of contracting HIV. “Stigma and shame around HIV and homosexuality is a huge driver of this vulnerability,” he wrote. “We need to break down the myths and judgements and not fuel these.”
RELATED: Elton John, TikTok Team Up To Educate About AIDS Epidemic
He concluded by schooling DaBaby. “Homophobic and HIV mistruths have no place in our society and industry and as musicians, we must spread compassion and love for the most marginalized people in our communities,” he wrote. “A musician’s job is to bring people together.”
Madonna also slammed DaBaby, insisting: “If you’re going to make hateful remarks to the LGBTQ+ community about HIV/AIDS then know your facts,” before listing some.
She then called him out over his “sexist remarks” during the performance, writing that comments like that “only encourage more discrimination against women who fight daily against the oppression of living under the constraints of the Male Gaze.”
The singer added: “People like you are the reason we are still living in a world divided by fear. All human beings should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, sexual preference or religious beliefs. AMEN. @dababy.”
Following backlash to his comments, DaBaby issued an apology of sorts, insisting he had “no intentions on offending anybody.”
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 🙏🏾
But the LGBT community… I ain’t trippin on y’all, do you. y’all business is y’all business.
— DaBaby (@DaBabyDaBaby) July 27, 2021
