After making homophobic comments during a performance, rapper DaBaby has been widely criticized and dropped from multiple festivals. The fallout could mark a cultural shift in the music business.

Transcript

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

One of the big stories in the music industry right now has been the response to hip-hop star DaBaby's homophobic comments, which he made during a festival in Miami late last month. As NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports, the fallout was swift as multiple festivals canceled his shows.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: With his millions of followers on social media, DaBaby has a powerful platform. He's won BET Awards and been nominated for Grammys.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LEVITATING (FT. DABABY)")

DABABY: (Rapping) I'm one of the greatest, ain't no debating on it. I'm still levitating. I'm heavily medicated. Ironic I gave them love, and they end up hating on me.

BLAIR: That's DaBaby on a Dua Lipa song that's in the top 10 of the Billboard's Hot 100 chart. During his concert at the Rolling Loud Festival in Miami, he told the audience to put your cellphone light up if you didn't show up with HIV/AIDS.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

DABABY: You didn't show up today with HIV/AIDS, any of them deadly sexually transmitted diseases that'll make you die in two, three weeks, put your cellphone light in the air.

BLAIR: The backlash was immediate. Dua Lipa distanced herself from DaBaby. Lollapalooza removed him from the lineup. Then more festivals canceled his shows. Elton John and Madonna railed against the misinformation in his comments about HIV.

TRICIA ROSE: I think there's a new moment. There's definitely a new moment.

BLAIR: DaBaby is a big star, and Brown University professor Tricia Rose says the cost to his career is significant. At the same time, she says, the music industry has long tolerated and profited from artists like DaBaby.

ROSE: There's many, many artists who are promoted by the industry, who are celebrated by the industry because of their, quote-unquote, "edgy," extreme behavior. And, you know, that is a long-standing pattern that has not abated in any way. And then, you know, when they step out of line about when and how they actually live into that identity, then there's all this sort of, you know, we're all about peace, love and happiness.

BLAIR: Since the uproar, DaBaby has tried to be about peace and understanding. In his second apology, he writes, social media moves so fast that people want to demolish you before you have a chance to grow, educate and learn from your mistakes. Kevin Powell says he's right. Powell has written extensively about hip-hop and toxic masculinity in American culture.

KEVIN POWELL: I believe in counsel culture, not cancel culture. Do we just want to keep canceling people because of their racism, their sexism, their homophobia, transphobia, or do we actually want to educate people so we become a more educated populace so this does not become a normalized thing, where we're constantly just responding to people who are saying crazy racist, sexist, homophobic, transphobic things?

BLAIR: What do you think the consequences for DaBaby's career will be?

POWELL: Well, he has to be serious. No matter who you are, you have to be serious about making amends. You have to become an advocate for women and girls. You have to become an advocate against homophobia and transphobia. You have to be an outspoken critic of sexism. You have to make amends by your actions, your deeds. It can't just be an apology just because you're trying to save your career, no matter who you are.

BLAIR: Cultural attitudes about sexuality in pop music are changing. Right now, the openly gay rapper Lil Nas X has two hit songs, and he's on magazine covers. Both Powell and Tricia Rose think that's great, but they also say the work towards a more inclusive music industry is far from over.

Elizabeth Blair, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Tags: Genre: Hip-Hop  DaBaby