Doja Cat does not approve of her fans’ self-appointed nickname for themselves – or apparently of online pop music fandom in general. This weekend, the “Say So” singer made a series of tweets about the term “Kittenz,” which she learned that her fans had adopted to describe themselves much like Nicki Minaj’s “Barbs” or Lady Gaga’s “Little Monsters.” However, Doja seemed to dislike the kind of feverish fandom that these kinds of nicknames create.
“My fans don’t get to name themselves s-,” she wrote in one of the now-deleted tweets. “If you call yourself a ‘kitten’ or f-ing ‘Kittenz’ that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house.” She then got into debates and conversations with some fans who were taken aback by this outburst. For example, one person pointed out that Doja had created the term “Kittenz” herself, but she claimed that she had done so when she was “an alocholic teen.”
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Another fan with “Kittenz” in their username asked Doja: “What should I change my name to since you don’t like the term Kitten?” She replie: “Just delete the entire account and rethink everything it’s never too late.” Meanwhile, one person replying to Doja had her legal name as their username – Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini – and she told them: “You making my government name your sn is creepy as f-.” Undaunted, this fan replied that they were just happy to be noticed by her online.
Her fans seemed to be split between responses like this one and genuine discouragement. Many seemed intent on continuing to root for the singer and maintain anonymous fan accounts for her, but others took her discouragement to heart and proclaimed that they would no longer “stan” her. Doja is known for playing the role of an internet troll at times, and many seemed to think that this outburst would pass.
Doja Cat deleted all of those inflammatory posts and she and her professional reps have not responded to other outlets’ requests for comment on this social media spat. The singer is due to head out on a nationwide tour starting in October, though many fans seem to be less excited about it after this weekend. She also has another full-length album on the way, with the lead single “Attention” streaming now.
