Charlotte rapper DaBaby (Jonathan Lyndale Kirk) was caught on camera assaulting a female fan on Saturday night as he made his way to the stage for a performance at Whiskey North in Tampa, Florida, as part of his Up Close N Personal tour.
Video clips of the incident posted on social media show hip-hop star DaBaby, 28, making his way to the stage to start the show. A woman, who appeared to be trying to snap a picture of the rapper, pushed her phone close to his face. The rapper took offense and the footage appears to show him hitting the woman (see video below).
The fans at the venue were shocked at the violence of the Grammy-nominated rapper’s action and they began booing. The booing became so loud and persistent that DaBaby and his crew were forced to leave the venue before they could start the show.
Cops showed up at the venue after DaBaby left
Cops, responding to an assault call, showed up at the venue, but DaBaby had left when the deputies arrived.
Law enforcement sources told TMZ that the woman claimed it was another fan who pushed her phone into DaBaby’s face and that the rapper attacked the wrong person.
Dababy gave her a slap with some bop in it pic.twitter.com/M3BZCOT2BV
— Toeslurper (@ToeSlurper101) March 8, 2020
https://twitter.com/100ENT_TV/status/1236662343532195840
The victim was not visibly injured and she declined medical treatment. But the cops reportedly gave her a form to fill out and submit to the office of the State Attorney if she wanted to press charges, according to TMZ.
Fans also expressed outrage on social media
The video showing DaBaby slapping the female fan sparked a massive backlash on social media. Fans were outraged by the action and many called for the rapper to be “canceled,” a social media term for a total boycott.
Many also expressed outrage that DaBaby slapped a woman on a day designated as International Women’s Day.
https://twitter.com/phillycustoms/status/1236690294869053440
ch…why would dababy slap that woman like that he really has little man syndrome. pic.twitter.com/GcYwtvWeO5
— n. (@angelencrgy) March 8, 2020
Imagine slapping a women on international women’s day#DaBaby pic.twitter.com/7EPhL2cvpC
— 2020 is cancelled (@Pizzaboitorin) March 8, 2020
DaBaby’s publicist explaining he can’t hit women cause they’re 90% of his fan base pic.twitter.com/rinoR0nVR4
— . (@CM__Joshua) March 8, 2020
Some Twitter fans defended Da Baby
Some fans defended DaBaby on social media, saying that his reaction was justified because the woman pushed her phone into DaBaby’s face and hit him in the face with her phone.
you can see her touching his face, she deserved that
— Sage of Six Inches (@Zwooogy) March 8, 2020
Okay from this angle, you can see she shoved her phone in his face, but even still, she ain’t deserve a slap so hard to make her neck go all the way back, it’s just a phone and he ain’t just anybody no more damn
— Tajah A$uan (@tajahasuan) March 8, 2020
She hit him in the eye with her phone. It’s literally in the video….
— Jacob Float (@JacobFloat) March 8, 2020
But some claimed it was not the woman’s fault that the phone touched DaBaby’s face. They claimed that a sudden surge from within the crowd pushed her forward as she was trying to snap a picture of the rapper.
You can see she was being pushed forward in a crowd of fans . Idolizing abuse , smh y'all need help .
— Xanath ? (@LankO2017) March 8, 2020
DaBaby later took to Instagram Story to apologize
DaBaby later took to his Instagram Story to share a video of the incident. He offered a reward of $10,000 for anyone with a video that shows another angle of the incident.
“I got $10,000 for whoever got a good angle of shawty hitting me in my eye with her phone. Who know shawty government name so my lawyer can get active?”
But he later offered an apology, saying he did not know it was a woman he was hitting because it was dark and the flash of the phone blinded him.
“I do sincerely apologize. I do. I’m very sorry that there was a female on the other end of that flashlight on their phone.”
But he went on to advise fans not to come too close when they are trying to snap pictures but to zoom in instead.
“Just zoom in instead of popping me in the m*****f***in’ eye with the phone. But I do apologize that there was a female on the other end.”
DaBaby has previously been accused of violent acts in public
This is not the first time that DaBaby has been in trouble for engaging in violent behavior in a public.
He was recently charged with battery after he was accused of beating up and robbing a music promoter of his cellphone, cash, and credit card. He and his crew accused the man of refusing to pay them the full sum owed for a performance in Miami.
He was also involved in the shooting death of a 19-year-old in Huntersville, California, but he claimed that he acted in self-defense and the charges were dropped in March 2019.
However, he was found guilty of a charge of “misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon” in connection with the case.