Much like his career opportunities as of late, DaBaby’s apology over his onstage homophobic rant has vanished.
It took the rapper eight days to seemingly express sincere regret over his comments at the Rolling Loud music festival, where he spread harmful and inaccurate misinformation about the LGBTQ community and people living with HIV and AIDS.
“I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I Made,” the 29-year-old rapper wrote in a lengthy statement on Instagram last week, as the list of his canceled festival gigs continued to grow. “Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important. Love to all. God bless.”
The statement, which did little to assuage the concerns of many of his harshest critics, was still notable, given how the rapper initially doubled down on his remarks, saying that “even my gay fans don’t got fuckin’ AIDS.”
And yet, six days after DaBaby posted his apology, it’s been scrubbed from his Instagram account, leading many to wonder just how committed the rapper is to learning from his mistakes.
While performing in Miami last month, the Grammy-nominated rapper, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, felt moved, for some reason, to tell 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.”
The backlash to his onstage rant was swift and included his chart-topping “Levitating” collaborator Dua Lipa saying she was “surprised and horrified” by his comments as well as Madonna writing that she prays “for your ignorance.”
Given that his remarks arrived at the peak of summer festival season, DaBaby has since lost a slew of high-profile gigs, with Lollapalooza, Governors Ball and Day N Vegas pulling him from their lineups.
Organizers from the Chicago-based Lollapalooza were reportedly promised a heartfelt video apology from DaBaby to the LGBTQ community before he hit the stage, but the rapper failed to deliver.
While many in the music industry have distanced themselves from the rapper, he seemingly has one person in his corner: Miley Cyrus.
Earlier this week, the pop star reached out to DaBaby over Instagram amid the backlash, writing that she would “love to talk and see how we can learn from each other and help be part of making a more just and understanding future.”
He has yet to publicly take her up on the offer, but returned to Instagram on Sunday with a video of himself sharing a birthday tribute to his brother, who died in November of last year.