On Tuesday evening, Rolling Loud unveiled its star-studded lineup.
The hotly anticipated music festival, taking place July 22-24 at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, will boast headliners Ye, Future, and Kendrick Lamar, as well as rising stars Lil Baby, Baby Keem, Gunna, and Saweetie. But one name in particular is sure to make waves (and not in a good way).
Yes, DaBaby is scheduled to perform at Rolling Loud on Saturday, July 23rd.
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If you recall, the North Carolina-raised rapper received widespread condemnation for going on a homophobic rant at last year’s Rolling Loud, seemingly out of nowhere.
“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,” he exclaimed. “Fellas, if you ain’t sucking dick in the parking lot, put your cellphone lighter up.”
In lieu of an apology, DaBaby proceeded to double down on his Instagram Live two days later, saying of his fans, “They don’t got AIDS. My gay fans, they take care of themselves. They ain’t no nasty gay n----s. See what I’m saying? They ain’t no junkies,” while calling his anti-gay tirade “a call to action.” (He only issued an apology after a number of other artists, including Elton John and collaborator Dua Lipa, called him out—and then promptly deleted the apology before labeling his critics “crybabies.”)
If the vile homophobia—and reluctance to repent—weren’t enough, DaBaby also brought out Tory Lanez onstage with him at Rolling Loud right after Megan Thee Stallion’s set.
Megan had accused Tory of shooting her in both feet prior to Rolling Loud and was granted an order of protection against him (which he violated by appearing at the fest).
“I didn’t tell the police what happened immediately right there because I didn’t want to die,” she maintained. A detective later corroborated Megan’s account, testifying that Tory had yelled “dance, bitch!” at her before firing at her feet.
Lanez was ultimately charged with felony assault for the alleged shooting and is set to stand trial (he’s denied the claims and pleaded not guilty).
When DaBaby was dropped from a number of music festivals because of his comments, he embarked on a semi-apology tour, meeting with a number of HIV/AIDS organizations presumably in order to educate himself about where he went wrong. However, as The Daily Beast reported, DaBaby proceeded to ghost those organizations and not donate a dime.
It’s not yet known whether Ye, a Rolling Loud headliner and one of DaBaby’s most vocal defenders—who brought him out during listening parties for Donda and Donda 2—had a hand in DaBaby performing at the fest.
