Elton John has has joined the chorus of condemnation of DaBaby, calling him out for spreading “HIV misinformation” at his gig last weekend.
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”.
Elton John, who founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992, 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.”
A graphic on his post read: “HIV misinformation and homophobia have no place in the music industry.
“We must break down the stigma around HIV and not spread it.
“As musicians, it’s our job to bring people together.”
The Crocodile Rock singer added a number of facts about HIV, chiefly that there is treatment and medication available that allows those people are HIV-positive to live long, healthy lives, as well as making the virus undetectable.
Earlier in the week, Dua Lipa shared her concern over DaBaby’s comments, saying she was “horrified” at what he has said.
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The rapper appears on Lipa’s chart-smash Levitating, with the singer saying: “I really don’t recognise this as the person I worked with.”
The rapper, real name Jonathan Kirk, responded to the criticism earlier in the week, saying: “What I do at a live show is for the audience at the live show.
“It’ll 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.
“Because, regardless of what y’all m************ are talking about and how the internet twisted up my m************ words, me and all my fans at the show, the gay ones and the straight ones, we turned the f*** up.”
He continued to say his gay fans “don’t got f******* AIDS”, adding: “They got class”.