American rapper DaBaby’s show at Lollapalooza cancelled after homophobic remarks

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Rapper DaBaby’s performance at Lollapalooza was canceled on Sunday, August 1, the day he was due to close the festival in Chicago, United States, after homophobic and prejudiced comments last week during a show at the Rolling Loud music festival in Miami.

At the time, he asked stagehands who were neither gay men nor had AIDS or HIV to hold their lighted cellphone up, also citing erroneous information that the disease “kills you in two or three weeks.” Over the past few days, artists such as Madonna and Elton John have spoken out about the homophobic remarks and joined the movement repudiating DaBaby on social media.

“Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusion, respect and love. With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight. Young Thug’s performance will now take place at 9 PM on the Bud Light Seltzer stage, and G Herbo will perform at 4 PM on the T-Mobile stage,” the event organizers said in a statement released hours before the performance.

DaBaby’s management did not reply to e-mails requesting for comment and a representative of South Coast Music Group, his record label, said it would “not comment” over the phone.

DaBaby was nominated for a Grammy Award for best album of the year in 2020 and his song Rockstar was a hit. In Brazil, the rapper is also known for his partnership with singer Anitta in a remix of Girl From Rio.