DaBaby, or DaFraud? HIV Orgs Say Rapper Never Acted on Donation Promises

Just when you might have thought the months-long DaBaby saga had settled, the fire has been reignited, as HIV/AIDS organizations say the rapper snubbed them following promises that he would donate.

Now, you may ask, “Why did DaBaby promise these organizations money to begin with?” and while I envy that ignorant bliss surrounding DaBaby’s Wacky ‘n’ Wild Homophobia Tour 2021, I’ll gladly catch you up:

The rapper found himself at the center of public backlash following the Rolling Loud Miami festival in July. In what I can only assume was a roundabout, bigoted way of telling the crowd to “make some noise!” DaBaby instead shouted to the audience, “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two or three weeks, put your cellphone light in the air.”

His natural followup prompted the ladies in the crowd to add their lights to the air if their pussy smells like water, asking fellas to do the same, so long as they aren’t “sucking dick in the parking lot.”

So … naturally a lot to unpack there, aside from the blatant falsehoods surrounding the current treatment of HIV/AIDS and ignoring the thousands upon thousands of LGBTQ folks we lost to the pandemic at its height, an impact still felt through the community today.

His initial response was the oh-so-accountable sentiment, “Shut the fuck up,” telling critics that what he said didn’t “translate” properly to those who weren’t in attendance. Though, of course, once his violent word vomit began to affect his money, following a number of booking cancellations, he rethought his earlier sentiment, issuing a new apology on a since-deleted Instagram post:

“I want to apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made. Again, I apologize for my misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS, and I know education on this is important.”

He also met with several HIV/AIDs organizations, after they invited him to expand his knowledge on the disease. While DaBaby said that the conversations were eye-opening, a report by the Daily Beast indicated that those organizations never heard from the rapper again.

Three of the nine organizations DaBaby met with responded to the Beast‘s request for comment and said he never donated money or contacted them again.

Pavni Guharoy, communications consultant for the Black AIDS Institute, says the rapper “received that learning gracefully,” though the organization had “not received any outreach, partnership, or funding from DaBaby.”

“The onus is now on him, if he chooses to, to convert his misinformation into allyship by supporting the work of the Black AIDS Institute and other people of color-led HIV organizations,” Guharoy says.

Ian L. Haddock, founder and executive director of The Normal Anomaly Initiative, expressed a similar sentiment, along with the Positive Women’s Network: “Though we felt the conversation was extremely powerful a couple months ago, we haven’t heard anything back as an organization since our conversation.”

DaBaby is working with Rolling Loud again, who said in a statement that the organization “supports second chances” and believes the rapper “has grown and learned from his experience.”

Interesting sentiment, Rolling Loud.