What a difference a week makes. Seven days ago, Jonathan “DaBaby” Kirk was still defiant against people expressing outrage over his homophobic statements at the 2021 Rolling Loud Miami festival.
This week, DaBaby was forced to give a second apology after his first mea culpa was followed by days of the North Carolina rapper suggesting he could never be “canceled” by the general public.
“These n##### really think they gone influence people to stop f##### [with] the INFLUENCE.😂They go crazy bout what I say not yall. 😂I got da influence AND the nuts n####. Yall n##### cheerleaders,” posted DaBaby on July 29 in response to Questlove’s criticism.
By August 2, DaBaby was back on Instagram to share, “I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important.”
That additional admission of wrongdoing did not stop numerous festivals – such as AMusic Midtown, Austin City Limits, and the iHeart Radio Music Festival – from dropping DaBaby from their respective lineups.
One day before the second apology was issued, the Chicago-based Lollapalooza festival also announced DaBaby was being removed from the event located in the city’s Grant Park.
“Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight,” tweeted the verified Lollapalooza Twitter account on August 1.
Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight. Young Thug will now perform at 9:00pm on the Bud Light Seltzer Stage, and G Herbo will perform at 4:00pm on the T-Mobile Stage. pic.twitter.com/Mx4UiAi4FW
— Lollapalooza (@lollapalooza) August 1, 2021
There are now more behind-the-scenes details about Lollapalooza’s decision to not allow DaBaby to perform at the show. Billboard reports:
Just days after making homophobic comments at Rolling Loud Festival in Miami on July 25, representatives for rapper DaBaby reached out to the promoters of seven fall festivals that had booked the Charlotte, N.C., rapper and assured them an apology would be forthcoming. DaBaby was planning to tape a short video that would be played before he took the stage at Lollapalooza in Chicago on Sunday, Aug. 1, in which he would deliver a heartfelt apology to the LGBTQ+ community for his distasteful remarks during his set in Miami the previous weekend.
Billboard
Apparently, the alleged agreed-upon apology video by DaBaby was never sent to Lollapalooza organizers which is what caused the event’s planners to make the final determination that his set would be called off.
“If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of [those] deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up,” DaBaby told the Rolling Loud Miami crowd on July 25.
He continued, “Ladies, if your p#### smell like water, put your cellphone lighter up. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking a n####’s d### in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.”
DaBaby’s Rolling Loud Miami comments were met with widespread condemnation from LGBTQ+ organizations and HIV/AIDS organizations as well as celebrities like Dua Lipa, Elton John, and Madonna.
However, DaBaby did receive support from fellow southern rappers T.I. and Boosie Badazz who both chose to back the 29-year-old Interscope recording artist while also slamming openly gay musician Lil Nas X.