DaBaby’s Boohoo deal in doubt after rapper’s homophobic rant at concert leads to backlash
FTSE-listed online fashion giant Boohoo has today swiftly condemned an onstage rant by one of it’s fashion line colab partners, DaBaby, as it mulls ditching the rapper from its stable of stars that hawk its clothing lines.
DaBaby, a US rapper who features on the Due Lipa US top 10 hit Levitating, has a fashion line with Boohoo, but the partnership looks in doubt after the rapper’s comments at a Florida concert.
Videos on social media show him telling the Miami festival crowd: “If you didn’t show up today with HIV, AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that’ll make you die in two or three weeks, put your cellphone light up.”
Following a social media backlash the rapper appeared to double-down on the anti-HIV comments today on Instagram saying: “Even my gay fans don’t got f****** AIDS… they don’t got AIDS.
“My gay fans, they take care of theyself, they ain’t going for that… they ain’t no junkies. I said if you ain’t sucking d*** in the parking lot, put your cellphone light up. You know what my gay fans did? Put that m************ light up.
Boohoo said in a statement this afternoon that the UK rapper’s comments go against its “core values”.
“Boohoo condemns the use of homophobic language and [we] are reviewing the relationship with DaBaby,” the retailer told the BBC.
“We pride ourselves on representing the diverse customers we serve across the globe.”
A spokesperson added: “We support the LGBTQ+ community, raising money for a number of different charitable organisations and offering sponsorship to Pride Festivals and events in a number of different locations across the UK and US.”