Doja Cat’s rapid rise may be put on hold after her response to resurfaced homophobic tweets has left some fans unsettled. The L.A.-via-South Africa R&B artist struck viral gold earlier this month with “Mooo!," a charmingly slapdash ode to our farmhouse friends. The bovine bop quickly catapulted her to Internet darling status: the original video has over 9 million views since it was quietly put out to the world Aug. 10. She has also received ringing endorsements from Chance the Rapper and other stars, and she announced on Tuesday (Aug 28) that she has plans to release a studio version of the track this week.
But, as with a number of internet phenomena that came before her, the goodwill appears to have somewhat dried up after intrepid fans combed through Doja's Twitter history only to find her reportedly using homophobic slurs.
In a since-deleted tweet from 2015, Doja Cat allegedly used the homophobic slur “f——“ to refer to Odd Future members Tyler, the Creator and Earl Sweatshirt. She issued a since-deleted statement on Twitter that defended her use of the term, effectively amping up the controversy and broadcasting the slur to a wider audience.
“I called a couple of people f——ts when I was in high school in 2015 does this mean I don’t deserve support?” she wrote on Twitter. “I’ve said f——t roughly 15 thousand times in my life. Does saying f—-t mean you hate gay people? Do I hate gay people? I don’t think I hate gay people. Gay is ok.”
After the initial remarks, which sparked even-broader outrage (including a response from Will & Grace icon Debra Messing), the 22-year-old artist has since issued a slew of apologies expressing her remorse. All have also been deleted from her Twitter.
"I’ve used horrible derogatory and hateful words towards people out of ignorance. I just want you guys to know that you’re incredibly special and I hold you dearly to my heart. I’m sorry for anyone I’ve offended or hurt deeply. You all are worth love and support,” she wrote in one now-deleted Notes app apology on Tuesday night (Aug. 28).
No word yet on if this will impact her fall tour in support of her debut album Amala, which dropped earlier this year.
See Doja Cat's initial remarks and string of apologies below, courtesy of Pop Crave:
Doja Cat, the artist responsible for 2018’s latest viral video and song “Mooo!”(Bitch I’m a Cow) is under fire after ‘homophobic’ tweets resurfaced.
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) August 29, 2018
The backlash increased after she posted, then deleted two different apologies, before sticking to a third and final one.-- pic.twitter.com/W5RWkhgMfK