Dua Lipa Says She’s ‘Surprised and Horrified’ by DaBaby’s Homophobic Remarks

Ellise Shafer
·4-min read

Dua Lipa is speaking out against DaBaby’s homophobic comments at the Rolling Loud Festival.

The pop star — who collaborated with DaBaby on the wildly popular remix of her song “Levitating” — took to her Instagram story on Tuesday to condemn the comments DaBaby made during his Rolling Loud performance on Sunday night. According to a video posted by TMZ, DaBaby encouraged the audience to put their cell phone flashlights in the air if they “didn’t show up today with HIV/AIDS or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that will make you die in two to three weeks,” among further derogatory remarks about HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ people.

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“I’m surprised and horrified at DaBaby’s comments,” Lipa wrote on her Instagram story. “I really don’t recognize this as the person I worked with. I know my fans know where my heart lies and that I stand 100% with the LGBTQ community. We need to come together to fight the stigma and ignorance around HIV/AIDS.”

Later Tuesday, without responding to Lipa specifically, DaBaby took to Twitter to offer an apology for his comments, albeit in a begrudging-sounding manner that stopped well short of mollifying all of his LGBTQ-supportive critics.

“Anybody who done ever been effected by AIDS/HIV y’all got the right to be upset,” DaBaby wrote. “What I said was insensitive even though I have no intentions on offending anybody. So my apologies. But the LGBT community… I ain’t trippin on y’all, do you. Y’all business is y’all business.”

<img class="size-large wp-image-1235028810" src="https://variety.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Screen-Shot-2021-07-27-at-2.11.31-PM.png?w=570" alt=" - Credit: Screenshot courtesy Instagram/@DuaLipa" width="570" height="1024" />Screenshot courtesy Instagram/@DuaLipa

The rapper suggested that his comments had been “digested” wrong in another tweet. “I tell fans to put a cellphone light in the air [and] y’all start a million man March. I told you y’all digested that wrong but I ain’t gone lie I’m impressed. Now show this same amount of support when a racist cop kill one of our black ass…YA NOT.”

Apparently in response to brands making moves to distance themselves from DaBaby in the wake of the remarks, he wrote, “for any brands, networks, or artists that like to profit off of black rappers influence on the culture, without understanding it or having the patience to deal with what comes with the position we play in our culture. Keep yo money next time.” In conclusion, he tweeted, “Other than that y’all cheer the fuck up & be proud of who you are cuz you can’t make me feel less of myself.”

Responded one Twitter user, @chris_notcapn, in a reply that drew thousands of likes: “This is what you call an apology? If our business is our business why TF did you completely bring us up out of the blue in the middle of a set? Clearly we’ve got your mind.”

Representatives for DaBaby did not respond to Variety‘s request for comment.

A day earlier, on Monday, DaBaby attempted to defend his comments on Instagram Live per TMZ, but continued to make offensive statements. He claimed that his interaction with the crowd in getting them to put their phone flashlights up was not a homophobic rant but “a call to action.” Furthermore, the rapper said that his gay fans “don’t got fucking AIDS” because they aren’t “nasty” or “junkies.”

Lipa’s “Levitating” remix featuring DaBaby was released on Oct. 1, 2020 and was a smash on the charts, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track is one of the more enduring hits of the past few years; 42 weeks after its release, the song remains at No. 3 on the Billboard chart.

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