At the beginning of the month US rapper Doja Cat’s Say So remix, which features Nicki Minaj, topped Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, but now she’s trending on Twitter for all the wrong reasons.
Allegations surfaced that the singer, whose real name is Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini, had taken part in racist conversations on alternative video-chat platform Tinychat and wrote a song in 2015 called Dindu Nuffin, which is a racist slur mocking victims of police brutality.
The singer was also accused of participating in conversations with white supremacists and “stripping for them” on video. The #DojaCatIsOverParty hashtag rose to the top of the Twitter trends list with many threatening to cancel her.
Addressing the controversy, Doja Cat released a statement on Instagram apologising for the song but denied participating in the online chatrooms. “I want to address what’s been happening on Twitter,” she began.
“I’ve used public chat rooms to socialise since I was a child. I shouldn’t have been on some of those chatroom sites, but I personally have never been involved in any racist conversations. I’m sorry to everyone I offended,” she went on.
The singer then said that half her family are black South Africans, referring to her father, veteran actor Dumisani Dlamini, and his family.
Read More: Whoopi Goldberg to Doja Cat about her estranged South African father: ‘He’s a good man’
“I’m a black woman. Half of my family is black from South Africa and I’m very proud of where I come from,” she continued before explaining that the song Dindu Niffin wasn’t meant to be racist.
“As for the old song that’s resurfaced, it was in no way tied to anything outside of my own personal experience. It was written in response to people who often used that term to hurt me. I made an attempt to flip its meaning, but recognise that it was a bad decision to use the term in my music,” she continued.
However, lots of social-media users didn’t believe Doja was being genuine in her apology and many South Africans called her out for only mentioning that she was South African when she was in trouble.
The rapper isn’t the first celebrity to be called out for discriminatory behaviour. Here are some other celebs who’ve been in hot water over similar comments:
1. Paris Hilton
In 2012 a recording of model and socialite Paris Hilton surfaced online where she could be heard calling gay men “disgusting” and saying that most of them probably have Aids. She has since apologised for her comments.
2. Kim Kardashian West
The reality TV star has been accused of blackface several times. Just a week ago she received backlash after marketing a black facemask as “nude” for dark-skinned women.
3. Kevin Hart
The comedian was criticised for old homophobic comments which resurfaced once he was announced as the host of the 2019 Oscars. He later stepped down as the host and apologised to the LGBTQI+ community for the comments.
4. Boity Thulo
In 2018 rapper and TV personality Boity Thulo had to issue an apology after her homophobic tweets from 2009 and 2010 resurfaced. In the tweets, Boity referred to a gay man as a “fascinating thing” and complained about “gay s**t” on television.
5. Pearl Thusi
Queen Sono star Pearl Thusi faced major backlash in 2018 after sharing that colourism has had a negative effect on her career. Many were unimpressed by her statement and accused her of being a “light-skinned person who loved parading as a ‘me too’ victim when it comes to colourism”. Her tweet even landed her in a twar with actress Bonnie Mbuli.
