Shortly after finding himself dropped from the Lollapalooza lineup over a homophobic rant issued at Rolling Loud Miami, DaBaby has found himself removed from another major festival. Today, it was announced that the controversial rapper would no longer be performing his set at the Governor’s Ball, who explained their decision in a statement.
“Founders Entertainment does not and will not tolerate hate or discrimination of any kind,” it reads. “We welcome and celebrate the diverse communities that make New York City the greatest city in the world. Thank you to the fans who continue to speak up for what is right. Along with you, we will continue to use our platform.”
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At this moment, the open position left by DaBaby has yet to be filled, nor has the rapper addressed the domino effect of festivals distancing themselves from him. For those who missed his original rant, it began when DaBaby said the following: “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. Ladies, if your pussy smell like water, put your cellphone lighter up. Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.”
In the wake of his spontaneous speech — the contents of which resembled his recent single’s video with striking similarity — many prominent artists, including the legendary Questlove, emerged to speak out against DaBaby. Yet not everybody was on the same page regarding universal cancellation. Following DaBaby’s removal from Governor’s Ball, prominent media personality Akademiks issued a few thoughts on the situation.
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“I fw Da Baby.. at this point though I don’t think its about his comments (him and others in hip hop have said worse things.. not justifying them)… however I think this is one of them last stands for cancel culture,” writes Ak. “He apologized but basically acted like he was 2 big to cancel.
“The moment Da Baby said he was the ‘influence’ like.. that can’t be taken from you or your livelihood can’t be affected by others,” he continues. “I knew they were finna have a hard on for him… can’t be arrogant and pompous when that cancel train come for u.. even if u think its overblown. Every festival finna try to look good by taking him off their lineup.. until he comes back begging and pleading. Thats what cancel culture is these days.. its more bout bringing entertainers 2 their knees begging back for acceptance rather than letting u learn from ur mistake.”
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“We’ve seen DSPs get involved in cancelling artists.. removal of those artists from all editorial playlists,” continues Ak. “Its interesting to see festivals take the same route. The thing that always make it looks fake as f*ck when anyone does this is its always selective… No uniformity. Its just weird how Festivals are putting out these elaborate statements about how much they care about humanity and because of that can’t have da baby on their show for what he said. Yet 90% of the artists they book.. music is about drugs and murder.. n its totally fine to them.”
“These companies gotta choose whether they are prioritizing the art or morality,” he concludes. “Because they all seem like hypocrites when they try to get on a high horse cancelling artists…Hip hop is a genre filled with imperfect individuals telling stories. Why even fw it if u want saints.”
Check out Akademiks’ thoughts on DaBaby’s removal from the Governor’s Ball festival below. As of now, this marks the third festival DaBaby has been dropped from, with Lollapalooza and the Parkland Festival having already kicked him from the lineup.