Last week, footage of Doja Cat in a reportedly racist, alt-right TinyChat room surfaced online. In addition, internet sleuths unearthed an old Doja Cat song from 2015 called “Dindu Nuffin,” which some say makes light of police brutality. She apologized in a written statement on Instagram and denied taking part in “racist conversations.” She then addressed the accusations in a lengthy IG Live. On the latest episode of For The Record, Genius' VP of Content Strategy Rob Markman dove into the complicated issue with HuffPost Black Voices editor Taryn Finley, culture writer Ivie Ani, and music writer Kiana Fitzgerald. The panel broke down the complex issues at play, Doja Cat’s connection to internet culture, and discussed whether or not the star should be “canceled.”
Finley lamented the timing of the Doja Cat controversy, which came as the nation reels from the death of black victims like Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd.
“The most disturbing part for me was the song, ‘Dindu Nuffin,’ Finley said. "Especially because, I know that she recorded it in 2015, she was 19 then, but it feels very much horrible timing for it to come out right now, just from an emotional standpoint where black people just all around don’t feel safe, not only because of the violence that we’re facing by the state and by white supremacy, but also by COVID-19.”
Ani pointed out that the situation surrounding Doja Cat exemplifies a larger problem with the way society treats women in rap.
“We take them up and then we take them down really, really fast,” she said. “And there’s no grace, there’s no grace period. As quick as we prop them up is as quick as we take them down. And that’s an issue in itself as well.”
Fitzgerald said she doesn’t expect Doja Cat will actually be canceled. In fact, she said that aside from major figures who have actually been convicted of crimes, celebrities are rarely ever canceled.
“There are tons of men who have done incredibly terrible things and we still see them on playlists shared by some of the biggest stars in the world,” Fitzgerald said. “People are still going to be there. They’re still going to support the people that make their bops, the people that feel like they connect to whatever, those people are always going to be around.”
Check out the full discussion in the video above and stay tuned next week for another new episode of For The Record.
