DaBaby reportedly lost his headline Lollapalooza slot after failing to deliver a promised video apology for his recent homophobic comments.
The rapper received widespread criticism for controversial comments he made surrounding homosexuality and HIV/AIDS on stage at Rolling Loud Miami on July 25.
“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,” he said. “Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cellphone light up.”
According to Billboard, representatives for DaBaby – real name Jonathan Kirk – reached out to the organisers of seven festivals at which the rapper was due to perform following his comments, to assure them a video apology was imminent, and would be delivered before he took to the stage at Lollapalooza.
On the morning of August 1, however, when the video message wasn’t delivered, Lollapalooza organisers issued a statement saying DaBaby had been dropped from the line-up entirely.
“Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight,” their statement read.
A last minute shuffle in the festival’s line-up saw Young Thug take DaBaby’s slot on the Bud Light Seltzer stage and G Herbo brought in to fill Young Thug’s original spot.
On August 2 it was announced that DaBaby had also been dropped from the lineups of the New York Governors Ball and Day N Vegas.
DaBaby then took to Instagram to offer a second and more coherent apology for his remarks, in which he said he was sorry for making “triggering” and “misinformed” comments.
“As a man who has had to make his own way from very difficult circumstances, having people I know publicly working against me — knowing that what I needed was education on these topics and guidance — has been challenging,” he wrote.
“I appreciate the many people who came to me with kindness, who reached out to me privately to offer wisdom, education, and resources. That’s what I needed and it was received.”
Despite this, yesterday (August 3), DaBaby was dropped from three more festivals, with the rapper taken off the bill of the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas, Music Midtown in Atlanta and ACL Fest in Austin.
DaBaby’s initial comments have received backlash from several of his contemporaries. Madonna reworked some of DaBaby’s comments, saying: “I want to put my cellphone lighter up and pray for your ignorance.”
Dua Lipa, who worked with DaBaby on a remix of her single ‘Levitating’, said she was “surprised and horrified” by his comments. “I really don’t recognise this as the person I worked with,” she added.
Elton John also weighed in, criticising DaBaby for fuelling “stigma” around HIV. “Homophobic and HIV mistruths have no place in our society,” he said.