DaBaby may see himself as the victim of a witch hunt this week after his call to action at Rolling Loud was “taken out of context,” but that hasn’t stopped his peers in the music business from doing their best to educate him on why his comments were wrong.
His “Levitating” collaborator Dua Lipa was “surprised and horrified” while some radio stations have taken to playing the rap-less version of the song, Questlove called him out only to have DaBaby lie in the whole internet’s face about knowing who he is, and even Sir Elton John chimed in to try to provide some clearly much-needed education on HIV/AIDS.
In the spirit of that education, the latest voice to join the chorus belongs to another pop icon, Madonna, who posted her own response to Instagram in an effort to inform the North Carolina rapper why his remark about HIV/AIDS killing people in “two to three weeks” was wildly off the mark.
“A message to DaBaby,” she wrote. “If you’re going to make hateful remarks to the LGBTQ+ community about HIV/AIDS then know your facts.” She provided some of those facts, which you can read below.
After decades of hard won scientific research, there are life saving medicines available to children born with HIV, to people who contract HIV through blood transfusions, dirty needles, or exchange of bodily fluids.
These new [antiretroviral drugs] can keep a person with AIDS alive for the rest of their lives!!! AIDS is not transmitted by standing next to someone in a crowd. I want to put my cellphone lighter up and pray for your ignorance. No one dies of AIDS in 2 or 3 weeks anymore. Thank God.
And your sexist remarks about Ladies whose pussies need to smell like water only encourage more discrimination against women who fight daily against the oppression of living under the constraints of the Male Gaze.
People like you are the reason we are still living in a world divided by fear. All Human beings should be treated with dignity and respect regardless of race, gender, sexual preference or religious beliefs. AMEN.
While the odds DaBaby knows (or cares) who Madonna is are about the same as the ones for him knowing Elton John or Questlove, considering his adverse reaction to Quest’s message, he probably won’t take hers any better.