DaBaby is apologizing for a homophobic rant during an appearance at the Rolling Loud festival in Miami.
After his headlining sets at Lollapalooza and the Governors Ball Festival were canceled within 24 hours of each other, DaBaby issued a statement to the LGBTQ+ community via Instagram.
RELATED: Lollapalooza Drops DaBaby From Lineup Following Homophobic 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,” he wrote. “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 needed was education on these topics and guidance — has been challenging. I appreciate the many people who came to me with kindness, who reached out to me privately to offer wisdom, education, and resources. That’s what I needed, and it was received.
He continued: “I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS, and I knew education on this is important. Love to all. God bless. – DaBaby”
During DaBaby’s performance the rapper encouraged the audience to put their cell phone flashlights in the air if they “didn’t show up today with HIV/AIDS or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that will make you die in two to three weeks,” among further derogatory remarks about HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ people.
The comments quickly sparked backlash on social media, and DaBaby was pulled from his brand ambassador deal with Boohoo Man. His “Levitating” collaborator, Dua Lipa, also spoke out against him as well as Elton John.
After Dua Lipa’s remarks the rapper admitted on Twitter that his remarks were “insensitive,” following with statements like “Apologies for being me.”
DaShawn Usher, GLAAD’s Associate Director of Communities of Color, called out the hateful rhetoric on Twitter last week: “The rhetoric that DaBaby used is inaccurate, hurtful, and harmful to the LGBTQ community and the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with HIV. It is critical that DaBaby and his fans learn that people living with HIV today, when on effective treatment, lead long and healthy lives and cannot transmit HIV.
“While DaBaby has made haphazard attempts to ‘apologize,’ actions need to be taken for full accountability and changes to do better in the future. It further confirms what GLAAD reported last year in the State of HIV Stigma Study that stigma and misinformation around HIV is widespread, and there is much work to be done to educate the public, including entertainers.”
