Madonna and several other celebrities have spoken out against DaBaby‘scomments he made on stage on July 22 at Rolling Loud Miami.
On July 29, Madonna posted a video of DaBaby’s comments where he asked fans to light up their cellphones “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.”
The singer sent DaBaby a public message with those remarks, along with several others he made that night.
“If you’re going to make hateful remarks to the LGBTQ+ community about HIV/AIDS then know your facts: After decades of [hard-won] scientific research – there are [life-saving] medicines available to children born with HIVE, to people who contract HIV through blood transfusions, dirty needles or exchange of bodily fluids,” she wrote on her caption. “These new ARV’s [antiretrovirals] can keep a person with AIDS alive for the rest of their lives!!! AIDs is not transmitted by standing next to someone in a crowd.”
“I want to put my cellphone lighter up and pray for your ignorance,” she continued. “No one dies of AIDS in 2 or 3 weeks anymore. Thank God.”
Madonna addressed DaBaby’s comments about women and encouraged him to treat people “with dignity and respect.”
“Your sexist remarks about Ladies [whose] p— need to smell like water only encourage more discrimination against women who fight daily against the oppression of living under the constraints of the Male Gaze,” she wrote. “People like you are the reason we are still living in a world divided by fear. All human beings should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, sexual preference or religious beliefs. AMEN.”
Elton John, Questlove and Dua Lipa – who collaborated with DaBaby for the “Levitating” remix – also spoke out against the rapper’s comments.
On Tuesday, Lipa shared an Instagram story that said, “I’m surprised and horrified at DaBaby’s comments. I really don’t recognize this as the person I worked with.”
The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) criticized DaBaby’s comments on Wednesday in a statement that said, “The rhetoric that DaBaby used is inaccurate, hurtful, and harmful to the LGBTQ community and the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with HIV.”
DaBaby shared a tweet on Tuesday, partially apologizing.
“Anybody who done ever been [affected] by AID/HIV y’all got the right to be upset, what I said was insensitive even though I have no intention of offending anybody. So my apologies.” He also said that critics misunderstood the rest of his message. “I told you y’all digested that wrong.”
