Following controversial statements made about people living with HIV at the Rolling Loud Festival in July, DaBaby made apologies via social media and met with HIV/AIDS organizations. Several of these organizations, however, have recently said that the rapper has since ghosted them.
As reported by Consequence, Ian L. Haddock, the founder and executive director of The Normal Anomaly Initiative, told The Daily Beast that “Though we felt the conversation was extremely powerful a couple months ago, we haven’t heard anything back as an organization since our conversation.” The article reports that representatives from the Black AIDS Institute and the Positive Women’s Network made similar statements.
The lack of communication between the Charlotte-based rapper and these organizations may suggest that the action to speak to them initially was performative, which was also said of his initial Twitter apologies. Although many festivals dropped him from their lineup after the homophobic remarks — including Lollapalooza, Governors Ball, Day N Vegas and Austin City Limits, where he was replaced by Tyler, The Creator and Duran Duran — Rolling Loud is still supporting him in his upcoming tour. The Grammys are supporting him as well with nominations for his work on Kanye West’s album Donda, which also has features from Marilyn Manson, who has allegedly committed sexual assault.
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