Singer Doja Cat has responded to allegations that she mocked Beyonce in a recent controversial TikTok video.
The singer denied claims that she made racist remarks and said that the former Destiny’s Child singer was in fact one of the “driving forces” in her music career.
The allegations surrounding Doja Cat, whose real name is Amalaratna Dlamini, came after a video clip surfaced on social media that fans claimed showed her using a racial slur to refer to Beyonce.
The TikTok clip appeared to show Doja Cat referring to Beyonce as “Beyonkey”, which many fans said was comparing her to a monkey, or a donkey.
Doja Cat faced a backlash on Twitter
The TikTok video sparked outrage on Twitter, and over the weekend, Doja Cat started trending on the social media site under the hashtag #DojaIsOverParty.
Fans accused the singer of mocking Beyonce and threatened to “cancel” her.
DOJA CAT IS OVER! I’m not a beyhive but I love so much Beyoncé she is literally an Icon and a queen of the music industry, she doesn’t deserve this ?❤️pic.twitter.com/jSwn3gI2GF
— chained | #Daisies (@chainedtoKP5) May 24, 2020
Me listening to my favourite Doja cat song before I remove it from my playlist and cancel her #dojacatisoverparty #dojacatisover pic.twitter.com/md2UmBFB4J
— E R I S E ? (@laerisee) May 23, 2020
Doja Cat responds on Instagram
Amid the outrage on Twitter, Doja Cat took to Instagram on Monday to tell her side of the story and offer an apology.
She admitted in her statement that she used public chatrooms in the past that she shouldn’t have, but she denied that she was ever involved in racist conversations. She apologized and highlighted that she herself is a black woman and that half of her family is from South Africa.
She claimed that a video clip of one of her old songs, titled Dindu Nuffin, was misunderstood. Dindu Nuffin is a term often used in online chat forums to mock minorities accused of crimes.
“[The Song] was written in response to people who often used that term to hurt me. I made an attempt to flip its meaning, but recognize that it was a bad decision to use the term in my music.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/CAmGIqnjHZP/
Doja Cat also praised Beyonce on Instagram Live
Anxious to undo the damage that the video clip had done, Doja Cat also later took to Instagram Live to praise Beyonce, describing her as “the cream of the f**king crop.”
“Beyonce is the reason why I believe I can be who I am. Beyonce is one of the driving forces of who I am in my career. Beyonce is undeniably talented. And every f**king time anyone has ever come for Beyonce I’m there, and that’s all I have to say.”
Doja Cat is a singer, rapper, and songwriter who first came to attention after she released the music video for her song Moo! in 2018.
She went on to release her debut studio album, Amala, later that year. Her second studio album, Hot Pink, released in 2019, included her hit single Say So, featuring Nicki Minaj.