ATLANTA — North Carolina rap star DaBaby, facing backlash over homophobic comments made at a recent concert, has been dropped as a major headliner for next month’s Music Midtown.
The Atlanta festival, which is scheduled at Piedmont Park Sept. 18 and 19, posted the news on social media, adding " Lineup update coming soon.” Current headliners include Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, 21 Savage, Megan Thee Stallion and Machine Gun Kelly.
DaBaby, whose biggest hit was 2020′s No. 1 hit “Rockstar,” asked fans at the Rolling Loud music festival in Miami to shine their cellphone lights if they “didn’t show up today with HIV/AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that will make you die in two to three weeks,” a remark that is factually false. He also added explicitly crude comments about gay men and women.
Several promoters have dropped him from their events, including Lollapalooza in Chicago, New York City’s Governors Ball and Day N Vegas in Las Vegas. Elton John, Madonna and other celebrities denounced his remarks.
DaBaby, whose real name is Jonathan Kirk, wrote on Instagram: “I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important. Love to all. God bless.”
On Tuesday, he added: “Social media moves so fast that people want to demolish you before you even have the opportunity to grow, educate and learn from your mistakes. As a man who has had to make his own way from very difficult circumstances, having people I know publicly working against me ― knowing that what I needed was education on these topics and guidance ― has been challenging.”
Q99.7, the local top 40 station, has also stopped playing the popular Dua Lipa single “Levitating,” which features DaBaby.
A popular DJ with Q99.7, Yvonne Monet, posted on Facebook: “Bye DaBaby. Proud that my station Q99.7 stopped playing his song with Dua Lipa and proud of Music Midtown for removing him from the line up. No time for it any more #handlingthat.”
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