Entertainment

The fallout from comments made by DaBaby about HIV and gay men continues, after the rapper was booted off the bill of a major music festival.

DaBaby has been widely criticised for his comments, where he told audience members to put their phone lights in the air – unless they were HIV-positive or were gay men who performed sex acts in car parks.

As well as seemingly singling out those suffering from the virus, DaBaby also incorrectly asserted that it will “make you die in two or three weeks”.

The Grammy-nominated rapper had been due to be one of the closing acts of Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, but was instead replaced by Young Thug, just hours before he was due to perform.

Organisers of Lollapalooza tweeted: “Lollapalooza was founded on diversity, inclusivity, respect, and love.

“With that in mind, DaBaby will no longer be performing at Grant Park tonight.”

Being dropped from the event comes after losing his clothing line with boohooMan and facing condemnation from the likes of Madonna and Dua Lipa – who he collaborated with on the track Levitating.

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Elton John, who founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992, also added his voice to the criticism, writing on Instagram: “We’ve been shocked to read about the HIV misinformation and homophobic statements made at a recent DaBaby show.

“This fuels stigma and discrimination and is the opposite of what our world needs to fight the AIDS epidemic.⁣”

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The rapper did apologise on Twitter late last week, saying he had been “insensitive”, but had already called people living with HIV “nasty” and “junkies on the street” in an Instagram story.

Medication is available for HIV, that allows those who have tested positive for the virus to live long, healthy and safe lives.

Previous requests for comment to DaBaby’s management by Sky News have not been answered.