Things just keep getting worse for North Carolina rapper DaBaby, who had risen quickly to become a popular presence in mainstream rap up until this weekend. After his bizarre comments from the stage at Rolling Loud hit the internet, nearly everyone (hey T.I., Tory Lanez and Boosie) responded to his homophobic comments with blatant disgust, but the rapper just kept doubling down. Then, he even released a video that seemed to further double down.
Artists like Dua Lipa, who had previously collaborated with DaBaby on the “Levitating” remix (fans already replaced his verse, natch) and Elton John, a well-known advocate for the LGBTQ community, have already spoken out against his stereotyping and now, GLAAD has weighed in too. GLAADD, aka the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation said
“The rhetoric that DaBaby used is inaccurate, hurtful, and harmful to the LGBTQ community and the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with HIV,” DaShawn Usher, associate director of communities of color for GLAAD, wrote in a statement via Twitter. “It is critical that DaBaby and his fans learn that people living with HIV today, when on effective treatment, lead long and healthy lives and cannot transmit HIV. While DaBaby has made haphazard attempts to ‘apologize,’ actions need to be taken for full accountability. It further confirms what @GLAAD reported last year in the State of HIV Stigma Study that stigma and misinformation around HIV is widespread, and there is much work to be done to educate the public, including entertainers.”
Here’s hoping some of fthis starts to get through to the young rapper… at some point.