DaBaby Has Yet to Donate to Three HIV/AIDS Organizations He Met With in August – Report
DaBaby reportedly hasn’t followed up with a financial donation or any sort of partnership with three HIV/AIDS organizations since his meetup with them over the summer.
According to a report in The Daily Beast, published on Wednesday (Dec. 1), three HIV/AIDS organizations—Black AIDS Institute, The Normal Anomaly Initiative and Positive Women’s Network—told the website that the North Carolina rapper hasn’t made a financial contribution to them since their off-the-record meeting in August. Their meetup was to discuss the homophobic remarks DaBaby made during his set at the 2021 Rolling Loud Miami Festival.
Pavni Guharoy, a communications consultant for the Black AIDS Institute, told The Daily Beast that while the meeting was productive, DaBaby hasn’t followed up with anything of substance.
"We have not received any outreach, partnership, or funding from DaBaby,” she wrote in an email to the outlet. “The onus is now on him, if he chooses to convert his misinformation into allyship by supporting the work of the Black AIDS Institute and other people of color-led HIV organizations.”
A rep for the Positive Women’s Network, who met with the 29-year-old MC at that time, told The Daily Beast they haven’t received any communication from him. Venita Ray, PWN's Co-Executive Director also said: "We felt that the original meeting was very positive and while we have not partnered with DaBaby on any activities beyond that, we welcome opportunities to speak with or partner with him in the future."
Ian L. Haddock, founder and executive director of the Normal Anomaly Initiative, shared a statement with XXL this afternoon, which read, "We at The Normal Anomaly Initiative want to confirm that we have not received any other communication from Da Baby. There has actually been no further communication to our organization since our meeting. We truly believed there would be action taken thereafter as the conversation was rich and find it disheartening that the conversation halted."
In August of this year, 11 HIV/AIDS organizations, including GLAAD and Black AIDS Institute, issued an open letter inviting DaBaby to a private meeting to explain to him why the anti-gay comments he uttered at the Rolling Loud Festival in July were damaging and hurtful.
If you recall, during DaBaby's RL set, he told the crowd: "If you didn't show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexual transmitted diseases that'll make you die in two to three weeks, put your cell phone light in the air. Ladies, if your pussy smells like water, put a cell phone light in the air. Fellas, if you ain't suckin' dick in the parking lot, put your cell phone lights in the air."
DaBaby initially tried to defend his comments and eventually offered an apology on his Twitter account, but it was too late. The Billion Dollar Baby Entertainment leader was hit with backlash by the music community and was dropped from several music festivals.
GLAAD announced in August that DaBaby sat down for an educational meeting with nine HIV and LGBTQ+ organizations, including the Black AIDS Institute, Positive Women's Network, Transinclusive Group, among others. Although DaBaby was "genuinely engaged" in their conversations, according to reports, he hasn’t reached out to any of the aforementioned HIV/AIDS organizations since their meeting.
Last month, it was announced that DaBaby would embark on a headlining tour backed by Rolling Loud, the same festival where he made those anti-gay remarks. The trek, titled The Live Show Killa tour, kicks off on Saturday (Dec. 4) in Atlanta. The tour will then hit several major cities beginning with Boston on Jan. 11, 2022.
XXL has reached out to Black AIDS Institute, Positive Women's Network, Normal Anomaly Initiative and a rep for the DaBaby for comment.