This past Saturday night, rapper DaBaby was performing a show at Whiskey North in Tampa as part of his “Up Close N Personal” tour. Fans everywhere were ecstatic to see the rapper perform, and the crowd became incredibly rowdy before DaBaby even went on. In a video originally posted to Twitter, you can clearly see the rapper trying to move through the crowd in an attempt to get toward the stage. He begins pushing through people who are very excited to see him and a woman he passes attempts to get a photo or video of the rapper with her phone. She gets the phone extremely close to his face using flash, presumably shocking him and instantly angering him. In response, DaBaby turns and brutally slaps the woman before continuing to walk toward the stage.
In the video, you watch the rapper calmly and quickly walk away from the situation, with fans screaming in horror after realizing what he’d done. According to TMZ, there were a few moments of initial shock before people around the woman realized what had happened. Immediately, the crowd began to boo DaBaby and people quickly became enraged at the rapper’s behavior. He and his crew members left before even going up on stage, fearing that the show would become out of hand if he continued as usual.
Since Saturday, DaBaby has spoken up about the incident and he seems to be open to talking with the woman. On an Instagram live, the rapper explained that he didn’t realize the person he slapped was a woman because she’d been shining a light in such a close range to him. He insinuates that the situation would have been different if she was a man, but that he also shouldn’t be assaulting any of his fans. He also explains that having flashing lights or fans at incredible proximity is part of being famous and that it’s something he signed up for when he became famous. Alongside his apology, he also offers his fans another way to get photos of him without getting so close: zooming in.
It seems as though DaBaby is trying to get ahead of legal proceedings with his response, as he asks for the woman’s legal name in order to have his lawyer reach out. In addition, he says he’d be more than happy to speak with the woman privately and apologize, wanting to make things right by whatever means necessary. Luckily, the victim was not significantly injured and denied medical treatment when authorities arrived on the scene. As of right now, the ball is in the victim’s court as to whether or not she wants to press charges against DaBaby. Sources say it’s unclear whether or not the victim plans to press charges yet, but new developments in the story should be revealed soon.
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