DaBaby continues to miss the point of the backlash against his Rolling Loud comments, issuing another statement on Instagram trying to defend himself from accusations of homophobia. Posting a snippet of his new video, “Giving What It’s Supposed To Give” (an example of appropriated LGBTQ slang), he noted the hard work that he put into the video, insisted that he already apologized (he didn’t), and boasted that he would overcome, all while bemoaning the fact that he has had to face consequences for his insensitive remarks such as losing his Boohooman deal. Read it below.
You ever wrote a video, you and 3 others produce it, you direct it while starring AND rapping in it, film the video for 16 HOURS straight wrap up at 4am, take a shower & jump on a jet to @rollingloud and with only 2 hours of rest give one of the BEST performances of the entire festival yet the most controversial and emotion provoking performance as well; due to things deemed “insensitive” said during your performance even though you’re an ENTERTAINER, try to apologize and explain that you meant no harm & that you were only entertaining as you are paid to do, & have no problem with anyone’s sexual preference that is outside of yours, only to have a substantial amount of people refuse to understand your logic, tag along with a trending topic & play with your character and do everything they can to take money out of your pockets and food out your kids mouth, and have everybody around you panicking only for you to apologize anyway stand on the fact that you were entertaining and truly didn’t mean to offend anybody or start no commotion, although they’re currently offending you, & COINCIDENTALLY the video you were shooting till 4am the DAY OF @rollingloud touches on EVERY controversial topic trending in the headlines, so you then go against the grain in the opposite direction of every scared person around you & stay true to yourself & DROP DAT BITCH in the height of the commotion & show the world once again that you CANT BE F*CKED WIT?
I have. I just did. God’s Work.
Okay. So. Let’s address this. There’s a reason that people are still mad and it isn’t because it’s a “trending topic.” Regardless of his intent, the impact of his words is very real. Right now, there are queer people facing levels of violence and persecution that literally put their lives in danger, and cracks like “if you ain’t suck a n**** dick in the parking lot…” only serve to reinforce the way of thinking that justifies it in the minds of bigots. Secondly, DaBaby didn’t really apologize. “I’m sorry you feel that way” isn’t an apology because it isn’t acknowledging the harm — intentional or not — and resolving to do better.
Doubling down by releasing this video only serves to mock the people who want to see him take responsibility and downplay how egregious his words were. When Elton John tweets you to tell you how your comments cause real-world harm and you still laugh it off, you’re not being an entertainer, you’re acting like an asshole. Admitting you were wrong doesn’t mean you’re admitting you are a bad person. But you still have to admit when you mess up and try not to do it again.
Finally, trying to draw attention to the other controversy within the set is probably not the move here. Because, again, that was an asshole move. Get your money or whatever, but if you have to step on people’s toes to do so, maybe that check isn’t worth it.
Anyway, here’s hoping that someone close to DaBaby can explain these things to him and that they’ll catch him at a time when he’s feeling more receptive, less combative, and ready to grow up instead of living down to his name.