Beginning on July 25, DaBaby became a national headline regular for days after he made offensive comments during his Rolling Loud Miami set. The “Rockstar” rapper was widely condemned for what he had to say about the LGBTQ community.
“If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of [those] deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up,” DaBaby told the Rolling Loud Miami crowd.
The Blame It on Baby album creator continued, “Ladies, if your p#### smell like water, put your cellphone lighter up. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking a n####’s d### in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.”
Those statements led to DaBaby losing multiple festival gigs and getting dropped as an endorsement partner with the BoohooMan fashion brand. Numerous people shared their thoughts on DaBaby’s fall from grace, and now Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson has spoken publicly about the matter as well.
boohooMAN condemn the use of homophobic language and confirm we will no longer be working with DaBaby.
— boohooMAN (@boohooMAN) July 28, 2021
Diversity and inclusion are part of the boohoo Groups DNA and we pride ourselves on representing the diverse customers we serve across the globe.
1/2 pic.twitter.com/C2BLYFwwaN
50 Cent recently made an appearance on the E! News program Nightly Pop. The Hip Hop mogul was asked what advice he would give to DaBaby as he deals with the fallout from the Rolling Loud Miami controversy.
“He’s a really talented, special artist, and he just transitioned from being in that pool that everyone’s in as a rap artist, they didn’t notify him that he’s turning into a superstar,” said 50 Cent about DaBaby. “There’s nobody that tells you, ‘Now you’re being held to these mainstream standards. You can’t say and do these different things.'”
The G-Unit leader added, “He didn’t have a publicist involved. That’s why the response took so long. Even his apologies… the first apology attempt at it is what made it worse.” 50 Cent went on to talk about how some modern-day acts do not have access to artist development, A&R support, or media training.
DaBaby tweeted an apology on July 27 that included him mentioning police killing Black Americans and calling out “brands, networks, or artists” that profit off of Black musicians. A second, longer apology was written on DaBaby’s Instagram page on August 2, but that statement has since been removed from his account.
Nearly a dozen HIV/AIDS-related/LGBT-related organizations presented an open letter about DaBaby’s homophobic rhetoric. They requested a “private, off-the-record, virtual discussion” with the North Carolina-bred performer.
Earlier this year, DaBaby admitted that he has been “studying” 50 Cent and receiving guidance from the entertainment industry veteran. 50 Cent responded to DaBaby accepting his mentorship by commenting, “I’m a teach him all the mistakes I made, so he can be better than me. THIS IS HIP HOP!”