Jonathan “DaBaby” Kirk has been one of the most talked-about individuals in the music industry over the last few weeks. The North Carolina-raised entertainer’s on-stage comments at Rolling Loud Miami caused widespread condemnation.
“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 festival crowd on July 25.
DaBaby also told the audience, “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.” In a separate Instagram video, he also claimed his LGBT supporters are not “nasty gay n##### or junkies.”
While DaBaby lost numerous l festival performances opportunities, other Hip Hop figures like T.I. and Boosie Badazz showed public support for the “Rockstar” hitmaker. Nick Cannon has now offered his own thoughts on the DaBaby controversy as well.
“First of all, I think not only in the Black community – and I’ve experienced it – but definitely just men a lot of times, we have that ego. We believe apologizing is weakness when it actually takes great strength to step up to anyone and say, ‘I was wrong,'” stated Nick Cannon on The Breakfast Club.
DaBaby apologized for his Rolling Loud Miami comments before he began doubling down on the idea that he had the right to say whatever he wants. The 29-year-old southerner later apologized again with an Instagram post, but that remorseful message has since been taken down from DaBaby’s IG page.
Last year, Nick Cannon had to publicly apologize for statements he made on his Cannon’s Class podcast that offended the Jewish community. The rapper/actor decided to put his Wild ‘N Out television series and his Power 106 morning radio show on hiatus after the backlash.
“He’s a fighter. We’ve seen his back against the wall. He’s swinging. He’s swinging just so he could get out of it. We all have to accept emotions,” expressed Nick Cannon about DaBaby’s defensive reactions to the criticism directed at him.
Cannon continued, “To say ‘I’m sorry,’ that’s a self-proclamation. To apologize is an action. And to actually repent or atone is actually the next level because now you’re trying to understand. There’s education involved with that. There’s actually community involved with that.”
The star of Drumline and Roll Bounce added, “And that’s the other thing too, where I challenge all these people who actually want to cancel somebody, and even specifically in DaBaby’s situation, let’s use this as an opportunity for education. Because that’s what happened in my scenario.”