DaBaby Apologizes After More Music Festivals Drop Him Over Anti-LGBTQ Comments
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Rapper DaBaby has issued an apology to the LGBTQ community after his homophobic remarks at a July 25 concert in Miami resulted in him being dropped from several music festivals.
“I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made,” DaBaby posted on Instagram Monday. “Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important.”
The Grammy-nominated rapper, born Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, has come under fire after making a series of derogatory statements about women, gay men and people living with HIV during a performance at Miami’s Rolling Loud Festival. Among other things, he told the crowd: “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 ... Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.”
DaBaby later addressed the controversy on Twitter, writing: “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.”
He stopped short of apologizing to the LGBTQ community, however, telling them: “I ain’t trippin on y’all, do you. y’all business is y’all business.”
DaBaby appeared unfazed by the ongoing backlash in the following days, advertising upcoming concerts and music videos on social media and sharing Instagram stories that showed him dancing in a car and riding in what appeared to be a private jet.
But he was dropped from headlining Chicago’s Lollapalooza Music Festival on Sunday night ― mere hours before he was set to take the stage. The Governors Ball in New York City and Day N Vegas in Nevada have also axed him from their lineups, and the Parklife Festival in the U.K. has cut his name from its upcoming event.
In an online statement posted shortly before DaBaby issued his apology on Monday, organizers of the Governors Ball said they do not “tolerate hate or discrimination of any kind.” The statement did not specifically mention DaBaby, but his name was absent from a fresh list of artists scheduled to perform at next month’s event.
An organizer for the event told HuffPost that the group’s statement “says all there is to say at the moment.”
Organizers of Day N Vegas, meanwhile, posted an updated festival lineup on Monday and noted that “DaBaby will no longer be appearing at Day N Vegas 2021,” though the post did not specifically cite the rapper’s remarks. The organizers did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
