DaBaby Calls Himself a ‘Hard Headed MF’

Despite his controversial July 25 set at Rolling Loud Miami, where he made homophobic and misinformed comments about HIV/AIDS and which cost him several festival gigs and live performances, he hasn’t walked away from performing. DaBaby officially returned to the stage at Hot97’s Summer Jam 2021 at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium on Sunday. And he’s due for his second festival performance this Saturday at Boosie Badazz’s Boosie Bash at Southern University’s A.W. Mumford Stadium in Baton Rouge, La.

But the Blame It on Baby rapper said he was open to learning his lesson in his formal apology “to the LGBTQ+ community for the hurtful and triggering comments I made,” which has since been removed from his Instagram account. “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,” he wrote in the since-deleted statement. “I appreciate the many people who came to me with kindness, who reached out to me privately to offer wisdom, education, and resources. That’s what I needed and it was received.”

Soon after, 11 leading organizations in HIV/AIDS education, prevention and treatment penned an open letter to the 25-year-old MC and offered to schedule a private educational meeting. Elton John also chimed in and broke down the stigma behind HIV/AIDS with an informative post.