More music festivals remove DaBaby from lineups following comments controversy

Jackie Dimailig

The fallout continues for DaBaby, who was dropped by three additional music festivals on Tuesday in response to the remarks about HIV/AIDS that he made during his Rolling Loud performance in Miami last month.

Austin City Limits and the Music Midtown Festivals announced Tuesday that DaBaby, born Jonathan Kirk, has been removed from their rosters.  In total, six music festivals have pulled him from their lineups, including New York’s Governors Ball, the Day N Vegas, and Lollapalooza.  

Lollapalooza announced Sunday, the day he was set to perform, that he would not be welcome on stage, with Billboard reporting that his appearance was contingent on a promised video apology video that never appeared.

Sources tell Billboard that DaBaby’s team promised several venues the “Masterpiece” rapper would issue a sincere apology to the LGBT community for the hurtful remarks he made, but when he missed the deadline, the venues went ahead and pulled the plug on his performances. 

The 29-year-old rapper issued a lengthy apology on social media Monday, saying in part, “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.”

DaBaby has twice apologized for the controversial statement he made on July 25, where he told the Rolling Loud crowd, “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.”  The remarks were widely considered homophobic.

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