Now That DaBaby Is Losing More Festival Gigs for His Homophobic Comments, He’s REALLY Sorry

After a couple of extremely ill-conceived “apologies” for his recent homophobic remarks, DaBaby is starting to sound more remorseful. I wonder what changed?

On Monday, the rapper posted a statement to Instagram that approximated actual contrition. After briefly lamenting that “people want to demolish you before you even have the opportunity to grow …”—and it must be said here that he indeed had multiple opportunities—DaBaby became more unequivocal.

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

When previously addressing the controversy, DaBaby had only managed to dig himself into a deeper hole. To review: In the immediate aftermath of the comments—“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, then put your cellphone lighter up”—DaBaby decided to double down on Instagram, writing that his fans “take care of themselves” because they’re not “nasty” and have “class.”

After those comments were received with equal outrage, DaBaby attempted an apology, reassuring his LGBTQ fans: “I ain’t trippin on y’all, do you. y’all business is y’all business.” Needless to say, this was hardly satisfying to DaBaby’s critics (AIDS activist Elton John in particular).

Then! DaBaby inexplicably released a new music video, which features him holding up a sign that says “AIDS” while he raps, “Bitch, we like AIDS, I’m on your ass, we on your ass, bitch, we won’t go ‘way.” At the end of the video, a slide appears with yet another statement from DaBaby, this one in rainbow letters: “Don’t fight hate with hate. My apologies for being me the same way you want the freedom to be you.” The suggestion being that DaBaby’s habit of making homophobic comments is intrinsic to who he is, like being gay.

Which brings us to Monday, by which time DaBaby had been removed from multiple music festivals’ line ups, including Parklife, Day N Vegas, and Governors Ball, according to the Los Angeles Times. His latest Instagram apology arrived “within hours of the festivals’ sudden set changes,” the outlet reports. What a convenient time to finally learn a lesson.