DaBaby was widely criticized for telling the crowd at a Miami weekend gig to “put your phone light up”, except for people who are HIV-positive or have “any of these deadly sexually transmitted disease that’ll kill you in two or four weeks” or gay men who perform sex in car parks.
Since then, the rapper has apologized.
“We were shocked to learn about the HIV misinformation, homophobic remarks made at a DaBaby Show. This encourages stigmatization and discrimination, and is the exact opposite of what the world needs to combat the AIDS epidemic,” John, who runs his own AIDS charity foundation, stated on Wednesday via Twitter.
“Homophobic, HIV-related mistruths are not allowed in our society or industry. As musicians, we must show compassion and love to the most marginalised members of our communities. Musicians’ job is to bring people closer together.
John, a long-standing campaigner against HIV/AIDS, also tweeted several facts, stating that HIV-positive people can live long, healthy lives with treatment.
Dua Lipa, the singer who featured on “Levitating”, has also criticised DaBaby. She said she was “surprised” and “horrified” by his comments. Label boohooMan stated that it wouldn’t work anymore with him.
DaBaby responded to the backlash online several times this week. He first defended himself and then said that critics had “digested them wrong”. Then he apologized.
“Anybody who has ever been affected (sic) or afflicted by HIV/AIDS, y’all have the right to be upset. What I said was insensitive despite not intending to offend anyone. He wrote his apology via Twitter on Tuesday.
