Dua Lipa says she is “horrified” by her “Levitating” co artist’s HIV stigmatising remarks, while boohooMan dumps the rapper from ad campaign.
Rapper DaBaby has made an apology (of sorts) for an incoherent and factually incorrect on-stage tirade against people living with HIV.
Performing at Rolling Loud festival in Miami, DaBaby called for members of his audience to “put your cell phone light up” as long as 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.”
The rapper continued “Ladies, if your p***y smell like water, put your cellphone lighter up. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking d**k in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.”
It is unclear what sparked the tirade, however, the rapper’s comments about HIV are incorrect, as medications helping those with HIV to live long, healthy lives have been available for decades.
Video of the comments which first appeared on TMZ.com sparked a strong backlash, forcing DaBaby to address the controversy.
Rather than apologise, however, DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, at first double-downed on his comments, saying his performances on stage do “not concern” people online.
“What I do at the live show is for the audience at the live show. It’ll never translate to somebody looking at at a five, six-second clip,” he wrote on Instagram.
The 29-year-old then went on to say “even my gay fans got standards” calling people living with HIV “nasty” and “junkies on the street.”
As criticism grew, the 29-year-old rapper resurfaced on Twitter hours later, attempting to apologise, while maintaining that he didn’t intend to offend anyone.
“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.” The 29-year-old rapper tweeted.
The apology hasn’t been well-received online and wasn’t enough for bohooMan ether, who subsequently terminated their working arrangement with the rapper.
Issuing a statement on the company’s Instagram page, the clothing label said they “condemn the use of homophobic language and confirm we will no longer be working with Dababy.”
“We stand by and support the LGBTQ+ community, and do not tolerate any hate speech or discrimination in any form.”
DaBaby is best known for his collaboration with English songwriter DuaLipa, with the rapper appearing on the “Levitating” remix which was released last October. The song was a hit, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Dua Lipa took to Instagram to say she was “horrified by the rapper’s comments.
“I’m surprised and horrified at DaBaby’s comments,” Lipa wrote on her Instagram story. “I really don’t recognise 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.”
