DaBaby on Sunday addressed the ignorant comments that got him uninvited from several summer music festivals.
In a voiceover during a video montage before his set at Summer Jam 2021 in New Jersey, the rapper thanked radio station Hot 97 for having him at the event to “share my gift, share my blessing with y’all out here live on this stage amongst all the chaos and all the backlash.”
DaBaby said the station “accepted my sincerity and all my apologies when I said I never, ever meant to offend anybody or say anything to make anybody feel any type of way live on that stage a few weeks ago.”
DaBaby sparked outrage on July 25 at Rolling Loud in Miami Gardens, Florida when he told the crowd: “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 up … Fellas, if you ain’t sucking n***a d**k in the parking lot, put your cellphone light up.”
Slammed on social media, the rapper went on Instagram to declare that his gay fans “got class” and “ain’t sucking no d**k in no parking lot.”
DaBaby was dropped from festivals like Lollapalooza, The Governors Ball and Day N Vegas.
He took to Instagram to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community “for the hurtful and triggering comments I made” and “for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS.” DaBaby added: “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.”
Then, he released a music video for a track that includes the line: “B**ch, we like AIDS / I’m on your a** / We on your a**, b**ch / We won’t go away.”
The video ends with “Don’t Fight Hate With Hate” in the colours of the LGBT rainbow flag, and “My apologies for being me the same way you want the freedom to be you.”
DaBaby then deleted his public apology on Instagram.
In the video that was played before his set on Sunday, DaBaby said Hot 97 “helped the world move forward and become a better place and not dismiss people off mistakes made like we ain’t human.”
Once on stage, where he performed “Cry Baby, DaBaby said: “Other than the people that, you know, was truly offended, I feel like the rest of y’all motherf**kers being cry babies.”