Pop icon Sir Elton John took to Twitter on Wednesday and ripped rapper DaBaby’s recent comments about men “sucking dick,” and individuals with “HIV” and “AIDS” during his performance at the Rolling Loud music festival over the weekend. “This fuels stigma and discrimination,” John said.
“We’ve been shocked to read about the HIV misinformation and homophobic statements made at a recent DaBaby show,” wrote Elton John at the beginning of a Twitter thread. “This fuels stigma and discrimination and is the opposite of what our world needs to fight the AIDS epidemic.”
“HIV misinformation and homophobia have no place in the music industry,” the singer added. “We must break down the stigma around HIV and not spread it.”
“HIV has affected over 70 million people globally: men, women, children and the most vulnerable people in our communities,” John continued in a follow-up tweet. “In America, a gay black man has a 50% lifetime chance of contracting HIV. Stigma and shame around HIV and homosexuality is a huge driver of this vulnerability. We need to break down the myths and judgements and not fuel these.”
“You can live a long and healthy life with HIV. Treatment is so advanced that with one pill a day, HIV can become undetectable in your body so you can’t pass it onto other people,” John explained in another tweet. “Homophobic and HIV mistruths have no place in our society and industry and as musicians, we must spread compassion and love for the most marginalised people in our communities.”
John was reacting to comments made by DaBaby during a recent performance, in which he said, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, or any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases, that’ll make you die in two to three weeks, then put your cellphone lighter up.”
“Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up,” the rapper added.
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After facing backlash on Monday, DaBaby doubled down on his comments, telling fans who weren’t there to “shut the fuck up,” according to a report by Digital Music News.
DaBaby then suggested that his gay fans were not offended by his remarks, because they “don’t got fucking AIDS, stupid aaa niggas. They don’t got AIDS,” according to a report by Billboard.
“My gay fans, they take care of themselves,” the rapper added. “They ain’t no nasty gay niggas. See what I’m saying? They ain’t no junkies in the street.”
But on Tuesday, pop star Dua Lipa — who featured DaBaby in her song, “Levitating” — slammed DaBaby over his remarks, stating, “I’m surprised and horrified at DaBaby’s comments. I really don’t recognize this as the person I worked with.”
On Tuesday evening — before John publicly weighed in on the matter — the rapper took to Twitter to post an apology.
“Anybody who done ever been effected 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,” DaBaby wrote.
But the LGBT community… I ain’t trippin on y’all, do you. y’all business is y’all business,” he added.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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