Rapper DaBaby dropped from Music Midtown after homophobic comments

ATLANTA — Rapper DaBaby won’t be performing at this year’s Music Midtown after he received heavy backlash for making crude and homophobic remarks at a recent Miami-area music festival.

While on stage, the Grammy-nominated rapper used crude language and asked attendees who weren’t gay men or people not affected by HIV or AIDS to raise their cellphone flashlights. He then incorrectly said the disease would “make you die in two or three weeks.”

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DaBaby’s remarks caused an immediate firestorm for the rapper, whose song “Rockstar” was one of the biggest hits last year. He was nominated for a Grammy for record of the year.

Da Baby, whose real name is Jonathan Kirk, apologized twice to the LGBTQ+ community for his “hurtful and triggering” comments.

He said he was misinformed for his comments about HIV/AIDS in the post, which came a day after the rapper was cut from Lollapalooza’s lineup in Chicago.

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“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,” he wrote. “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.”

On Tuesday, Music Midtown tweeted that “DaBaby will no longer be performing at Midtown Music Festival.” The festival is Sept. 18 and 19 at Piedmont Park.

The event is being headlined by Maroon 5, Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and 21 Savage.

In recent days, several artists including Madonna, Questlove and Elton John have denounced his remarks. Dua Lipa, who collaborated with DaBaby on the popular remix of her song “Levitating,” said she was “surprised and horrified” by his comments.

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