What DaBaby’s Homophobic Rant Teaches Us About White Supremacy
As many of you may know mediocre rapper DaBaby, a grown man who used to wear adult diapers in public for shock value, went on a homophobic rant about gay men and HIV/AIDS. While most performers just say something like “put your lighters in the air if you’re having a good time,” DaBaby decided to be ignorant instead. During his set at the Rolling Loud Festival, he made remarks such as “put your cell phone lights in the air if you didn’t come here with HIV/AIDS or any other sexually transmitted disease that you’ll die from in two weeks.” He also continued with “…and fellas put your cell phone lights in the air if you didn’t suck a n**** d*** in the parking lot.”
DaBaby’s comment pushes a stigma about HIV/AIDS that people have been trying to fight for decades. This is one of the reasons shows like Pose FX is so important. While the show is entertaining, it is also very educational. It shows how terrible it was when the HIV/AIDS pandemic first started. Many of the viewers were either too young to remember or haven’t been born yet. It is also important to note stigma of HIV/AIDS is what helps it spread. Many people to this day still believe HIV/AIDS is a “gay disease.” A disease that God is using to punish the LGBTQ+ community with. Some folks even believe through prayer and complete abstinence, HIV/AIDS would go away. None of this helps. What does help is sex education, teaching how to use condoms, and making sure medicine like PrEp is widely available. PrEp is an HIV prevention drug, which recently has been made available for free with insurance. There are also some organizations that can help get PrEp for free. Also, an HPV vaccine that is FDA approved is now available. 4 out of 5 people will get HPV in their lifetimes. This vaccine can prevent at least 6 types of cancers.
DaBaby’s comments also shed light on the homophobia in the Black community. Many folks don’t understand that homophobia is a weapon of White supremacy — and because of that, it can never be used to achieve Black liberation. Prior to European colonization, Africa was actually very neutral when it came to same-sex relations. Oftentimes people who claim Africa never accepted homosexuality, often point to the fact theirs no signs or artifacts that prove Africa celebrated homosexuality. Well, that’s the thing, when something is already the norm theirs no need pro-…. We have Pro Blackness because Anti Blackness exist.
Also, there was a King who ruled over what is now modern-day Uganda, who was openly bisexual. His sexuality was never a problem until European colonizers began to spread Christianity throughout Africa. It is important to note that while Christianity existed in Ethiopia, the Christianity that was spread throughout the rest of Africa is very different, has been changed many times, and is missing tons of context. For example, the Ethiopian bible has 84 books while the King James Version has 66 books. A total of 18 books was removed by the Catholic church. It is also important to note King James was a slave-owning, pedophile. The bible quote that people love to throw around condemns homosexuality, originally condemned pedophilia. Very coincidental that the Catholic church which historically has had countless accusations of child molestation would change that verse. Hmmm…
Since this situation DaBaby has been dropped from multiple festivals and brand deals; BoohooMan, The Governors Ball, Lollapalooza, and Day n Night Vegas. He has also put out a string of weak apologies. Which he recently put out a somewhat recent apology since his remarks started to affect his money. As of now, I’m pretty neutral on the situation. I definitely feel like he has been held accountable. I don’t necessarily want him to continue to lose more brand deals, but I wouldn’t necessarily care if he did. I guess you can say as of now I’m pretty apathetic.
Overall I need people of all oppressed groups to understand, you can not be for the liberation of your group but for the oppression of another group. That does not mean we all need to hold hands and sing kumbaya. It doesn’t even necessarily mean you need to be at the forefront of other people’s movements. What it does mean is in order to achieve liberation we have to be anti-oppression in general. Being for the oppression by other groups is a tool of White Supremacy.
I will soon be releasing an article on amazing social media accounts to follow that teaches about anti-oppression and intersectionality, so stay on the lookout for that.
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