You know that thing some folks do where they act loud, wrong and fragile AF but then call everyone else a snowflake? (Okay, Trumpers. I’m talking about Trumpers.) You can add DaBaby to that exhaustive (and exhausting) list, because even his apologies are fragile as hell.
To recap: After making outrageously offensive and homophobic and sexist statements during his performance last month’s Rolling Loud Miami festival (which we will not reprint yet again here), the rapper garnered equal parts condemnation, compassion and cancellations. Notably, he was dropped from the lineups of subsequent big banner events like Lollapalooza, Governors Ball Austin City Limits, and Glastonbury Festival, among several others, causing him to issue a now-deleted apology in which he also complained about “people’s penchant to ‘demolish’ folks before they have ‘the opportunity to grow, education and learn from [their] mistakes,’” as previously reported by The Root.
“I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made,” DaBaby added on Instagram on August 2. “Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and I know education on this is important. Love to all. God bless.”
Trying to turn the incident into a teachable moment, 11 HIV/AIDS organizations collectively penned an open letter inviting DaBaby to educate himself and the community on these issues instead of further perpetuating stigmas that endanger those living with HIV and the LGBTQ+ community at large. Whether he took them up on the offer is unknown, but with the controversy still largely overshadowing his fairly nascent career (as well as deeply impacting his earnings), DaBaby again addressed the issue at one of few gigs that kept him among its headliners, Sunday’s Hot 97 Summer Jam at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium.
According to Complex, it all started out well enough. A pre-taped video message projected onto the stadium’s screen, with the rapper sounding sincere as he thanked Hot 97 for being one of the view entities that “allowed me to share my gift, share my blessing with y’all out here live on this stage amongst all the chaos and all the backlash.
“They accepted my sincerity and all my apologies when I said I never, ever meant to offend anybody or say anything to make anybody feel any type of way live on that stage a few weeks ago,” he continued. “And Hot 97 was also willing to stick they neck out on the line, willing to go against all odds with everything going on out here in the world, and still allow me to come out here on this stage and utilize they platform to help the world move forward...”
“But that was before he had a live mic in his hands,” Complex noted. Once onstage, DaBaby couldn’t help but double down on his dubious apology, using a musical break to add (at about the 1:09 mark): “…But check this out, other than the people that was truly offended, I feel like the rest of y’all motherfuckers are being cry babies.”
*deep, heavy, Negro spiritual sigh*
Ostensibly, DaBaby was also using the moment to coyly introduce his new collaboration with Megan Thee Stallion, ‘Cry Baby’—which of course, begged the question of whether he apologized to Meg for helping Tory Lanez break her order of protection against him he could appear onstage with DaBaby at Rolling Loud. All in all, sincerity is seeming less and less like this DaBaby’s strong suit—especially since, as Billboard reported, he was dropped from Lollapalooza’s lineup because he failed to deliver a promised video apology to save that gig. He clearly learned that lesson the hard way—but could someone teach this (29-year-old) child how to properly apologize—and then shut up and perform?