DaBaby has apologized to a female fan who says he hit her in Tampa, Fla., on Saturday night as he walked to the stage at the Whiskey North nightclub.
The BOP rapper took to Instagram to explain his side of the incident after news broke that he slapped a female fan in the audience at an afterparty following his performance at a festival.
The 28-year-old rapper, whose real name is Jonathan Kirk, said that the female had tapped him in the forehead with her phone while shinning the flashlight in his face.
“I do sincerely apologize. I’m very sorry that there was a female on the other end of that flashlight on their phone,” he said after holding his phone flashlight up to the camera to show what he saw during the incident.
“But keep in mind I couldn’t see you, because you got the flash this close to me — which is okay, it’s no problem — a lot of people did,” he said, addressing the fan directly.
He continued: “They didn’t put it as close as you put it… But out of all them fans, how many people knew how to zoom in — just zoom in — instead of popping me in the motherf–king eye with the phone?”
The Suge rapper said that regardless of it being a “male or female” behind the phone, he “would’ve responded the same way.”
(Warning: The video below contains disturbing content.)
“I think by now it’s a well-known fact that male or female, I would’ve responded the same way,” DaBaby said. “Of course I had security with me; the club, they had their security and s–t, but me, like, I make security treat fans with respect.”
“I don’t like all that ra-ra s–t coming through, like, ‘Move, watch out, watch out!’ knocking people out,” DaBaby continued. “People paid to be here, we gotta respect them when we move through. I just wish you gave me the same respect in the return. You did not give me the same respect, baby. All you had to do was zoom in.”
DaBaby said that he would fly the fan out so they could have a conversation in-person about what happened at the Florida nightclub on Saturday night.
“We can sit down and have an adult conversation,” he said. “You deserve respect, you and me both.”
He went on to say that he’d like to “bring more witness to s–t like this to keep it from happening in the future. Male or female, let’s just try to conduct ourselves with respect.
After DaBaby hit the fan, the crowd reportedly booed him off the stage and he left without performing.
The rapper offered his followers on Instagram $10,000 to anyone who has a clear angle of the woman’s phone touching his face.
He also said people were messaging him on social media, claiming to be the female involved but was searching for her legal name so his lawyers could start to build a case.
“There’s a lot of people hitting me, acting like they you. And there’s too many of y’all. Remember I still don’t know what you look like because you had that phone in my face,” DaBaby said. “So I don’t know how to confirm who you is.”
He suggested that she have her lawyers reach out to his lawyers so they can discuss further steps.