DaBaby Dropped by Lollapalooza Hours Before Scheduled Performance Amid Anti-LGBT Comments

Rapper DaBaby was taken off the Lollapalooza schedule Sunday, just hours before he was scheduled [...]

By Daniel S. Levine

Rapper DaBaby was taken off the Lollapalooza schedule Sunday, just hours before he was scheduled to perform, in the fallout of his anti-LGBTQ comments during the Rolling Loud music festival in Miami last weekend. After his comments about HIV and AIDS and gay men caused backlash throughout the music industry, DaBaby first tried to defend his comments before apologizing on Twitter Tuesday. Young Thug was picked to replace DaBaby at Lollapalooza Sunday night.

"Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love," organizers for the Chicago music festival announced on Twitter Sunday morning. "With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight. Young Thug will now perform at 9:00 pm on the Bud Light Seltzer Stage, and G Herbo will perform at 4:00 pm on the T-Mobile Stage."

During his performance in Miami, DaBaby asked members of the crowd to "put your cellphone up" if they are not gay men or have HIV and AIDS. He used offensive language when he made the comments. He incorrectly told the crowd that HIV and AIDS will "make you die in two, three weeks," reports BuzzFeed. DaBaby's first response to the backlash was to defend the comments in a series of Instagram Story videos. "My gay fans, they take care of themselves. They ain't got no nasty gay n—s, see what I'm saying? They ain't no junkies on the street," he said in one video.

On Tuesday, DaBaby apologized on Twitter. "Anybody who done ever been [affected] by AIDS/HIV y'all got the right to be upset, what I said was insensitive even though I have no intentions on offending anybody. So my apologies," he wrote. "But the LGBT community... I ain't trippin on y'all, do you. Y'all business is y'all business."

DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, also appeared to reference the controversy in his music video for "Giving What It's Supposed to Give." In one scene, DaBaby holds up a sign that reads "AIDS" as he raps, "B—, we like AIDS, I'm on your ass, we on your a—, b—, we won't go away." The video also ended with a message reading, "Don't fight hate with hate. My apologies for me being the same way you want the freedom to be you."

DaBaby's comments drew widespread condemnation from fellow artists. Singer Dua Lipa, who worked with DaBaby on a remix of her hit "Levitating," was "surprised and horrified" by the comments. "I really don't recognize this as the person I worked with," Lipa wrote in an Instagram Story post. "I know my fans know where my heart lies and that I stand 100% with the LGTBQ community. We need to come together to fight the stigma and ignorance around HIV/AIDS."

Madonna shared a long statement on Instagram, sharing facts about HIV and AIDS. "People like you are the reason we are still living in a world divided by fear," she wrote. "All Human beings should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, sexual preference or religious beliefs. AMEN."

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