BoohooMan severs ties with DaBaby following controversial comments about gay men and Aids

BoohooMan has severed ties with DaBaby (Picture: FilmMagic)

BoohooMan has severed ties with DaBaby following his controversial remarks towards gay men, which many have perceived to be ‘homophobic’.

The rapper made the comments during his set at the Rolling Loud Festival, in which he claimed that people with HIV and Aids ‘die after two, three weeks’.

He also told men who aren’t ‘sucking d**k in the parking lot’ to put their phone torches on, while also reaching out to those who ‘didn’t show up’ with a sexually transmitted infection.

The 29-year-old, real name Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, had previously teamed up with online fashion retailer BoohooMan for his own clothing edit.

However, the company has now announced it will no longer work with him as a result of his comments.

A statement on Twitter read: ‘BoohooMAN condemn the use of homophobic language and confirm we will no longer be working with DaBaby.

‘Diversity and inclusion are part of the boohoo Groups DNA and we pride ourselves on representing the diverse customers we serve across the globe.

DaBaby had previously launched his own clothing edit through BoohooMan (Picture: Twitter)

‘We stand up and support the LGBTQ+ community, and we do not tolerate hate speech or discrimination in any form.’

DaBaby’s comments caused a backlash against him on social media, with even the likes of Sir Elton John hitting out, with many users pointing out his comments on HIV and Aids do not reflect the facts.

While there is currently no cure for HIV, with an early diagnosis and effective treatments, most people with HIV will not develop any Aids-related illnesses and will live a near-normal lifespan.

DaBaby made controversial comments about gay men and HIV/Aids during his appearance at Rolling Loud festival (Picture: Getty Images)

Dua Lipa, who collaborated with DaBaby for her single Levitating, condemned his comments (Picture: Getty Images)

Many celebrities also condemned what he had to say, including Dua Lipa, who had featured the rapper on her single Levitating, and Demi Lovato, who shared a series of slides to Instagram alongside a message that said: ‘HIV is not a gay disease.’

DaBaby has since apologised for his comments, after earlier doubling down on his message in a series of posts shared to Instagram Stories.

He wrote on Twitter: ‘Anybody who done ever been effected by AIDS/HIV y’all got the right to be upset, when I said was insensitive even though I have no intentions on offending anybody. So my apologies.

DaBaby has since apologised after previously doubling down on his remarks (Picture: Getty Images)

‘But the LGBT community… I ain’t tripping on y’all, do you. Y’all business is y’all business. (sic)’

Suggesting his comments were ‘digested’ wrong, he added: ‘I tell fans to put a cellphone light in the air y’all start a million man March.

‘I told you y’all digested that wrong but I ain’t gone lie I’m impressed.

‘Now show this same amount of support when a racist cop kill one of our black ass…YA NOT.’

The musician had earlier defended his comments, which were captured on video and circulated online, saying his onstage messages ‘never translate correctly to somebody looking at a little five, six-second clip from their goddamn crib on their phone. It just don’t work like that’.

However, in further messages, per TMZ, he said his gay fans ‘don’t got f**king Aids’ because they ‘take care’ of themselves and aren’t ‘nasty’ or ‘junkies’, adding: ‘They got class.’

Metro.co.uk has contacted reps for DaBaby for further comment.

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