Nick Cannon and 50 Cent have voiced support for embattled rapper DaBaby and hope that he can recover from the aftermath of the flagrantly homophobic comments he made at the Rolling Loud festival.
In late June 2021, DaBaby, 29, asked the males in the audience to raise their camera lights if they did not perform oral sex on each other in the parking lot, among other distasteful statements.
The backlash to DaBaby, neé Jonathan Lyndale Kirk, was immediate, intense and wide-sweeping. Legendary stars like Elton John and Madonna joined the loud chorus of denunciations of DaBaby. Meanwhile, major national and international festivals summarily dropped the “Rockstar” rapper from their performance rosters in rapid succession. A few sponsors also cut ties to the Cleveland-born, Charlotte-raised emcee.
Cannon, 40, definitely empathizes with DaBaby getting canceled. Cannon was fired from hosting his own MTV show, “Wild ‘N Out,” in 2020 after utter anti-Semitic statements on his podcast. After apologizing for his hateful rhetoric, Cannon’s show was revived by Viacom in 2021.
“First of all, I think not only in the Black community — and I’ve experienced it — but definitely just men a lot of times, we have that ego,” Cannon explained to “The Breakfast Club” radio show. “We believe apologizing is a weakness when it actually takes great strength to step up to anyone and say, ‘I was wrong.’”
Cannon agrees that Dababy was wrong for unfurling the homophobic and sexist comments. But he believes this can be a period of maturation and growth for the rap superstar.
“I know Baby. And that’s a strong brother… That man just lost his pops, his brother, all the things that he [has been through] and still to have that big smile that he has every day, knowing everything that he comes [from]? I grew up in Charlotte [for] part of my life — I know that life,” Cannon told ‘The Breakfast Club.’ “He a fighter. We’ve seen his back against the wall. He’s swinging. He’s swinging just so he could get out. We all have to accept emotion.”
Cannon, like 50 Cent, hopes detractors will not cancel DaBaby.
“I challenge all these people who actually want to cancel somebody, and even specifically in DaBaby’s situation, let’s use this as an opportunity for education,” Cannon added.
Flip the page to view 50 Cent’s perspective on the DaBaby debacle.
