"I don't need to explain myself," said Doja Cat before proceeding to do just that two months after she courted controversy for wearing a t-shirt with comedian Sam Hyde on it. Hyde is a controversial figure himself with alleged neo-Nazi ties.
Doja found herself in hot water with much of her own fanbase (again -- she sometimes revels in it) after uploading a photo to her Instagram in October with her sporting the t-shirt. Now, in a new interview with Apple Music. the rapper is weighing in.
She did replace the original post with a cropped close-up of her face, tongue sticking out, but the comments still reflect the content of that original piece with one person writing, "You support nazis? lol are you stupid.?" Another commented, "girl get it together. this isn't cute or funny."
Speaking to Ebro Darden for Apple Music, Doja said, "You can't know everything." She explained that she just thought Hyde was funny and denied the narrative that the shirt was harmful in some way, saying, "It's not an attack."
"First of all, I'm not a political person at all," Doja explained. "I feel like when it comes to that sort of thing, I have to back the f--k away. Politics are not something that I wanna sweep into my life. I just want creativity and joy and just sort of the immediate reality of my friends, my family and my music and whatever."
She went on to say of the t-shirt in particular, "It didn't affect the world in a way where we have to look behind our backs. We don't."
After a brief pause, she speculated, "Me saying that right now, I'm gonna get a lot of responses of people saying 'yes it did, it's going to change everything'"
In response to the notion that a t-shirt she might wear in a soclal media post could have the power to change anything, Doja shot back, "I also think that I'm way too f--king famous. 100 percent."
"I'm doing what I can slowly but surely to separate myself from this kind of narrative or whatever this world is that I kind of built," she said of her recent rise. "I'm fine tuning it and tailoring it to what I want out of it."
"I feel like it doesn't matter what you say, it doesn't matter what some people know," she went on. "There's fans that I have that know I don't put any involvement into whatever the f--k that negative s--t was. I am more just: funny guy on T-shirt, wore it that day."
After spending so long expounding on the controversy, Doja said she didn't need to explain herself or prove herself "to a bunch of people who are just gonna project no matter what I say." Just as she knows she has those who will stand by her, she believes those people who've decided she's "evil" won't change their stance, either.
Doja has enjoyed -- and we do think that's accurate -- a tumultuous relationship with her own fanbase, famously trolling them for dubbing themselves as "kittenz" over the summer, costing her 180,000 followers.
There's also a narrative out there that she actively hates her fans, which the artist denies. Still others suspected it was all part of an art piece in anticipation of the debut of her Scarlet persona for her latest album of the same name, which came out September 22.
Doja clarified to Apple Music that she's never actually said she hates her fans, acknowledging that she enjoys needling them in a comedic way, like when she said her fans "fell for it" with her "cash grab" albums.
"It's definitely something, and I know that people who get it, get it, and I'm fine with that," Doja explained. "I don't need to have to explain my sense of humor or explain comedy to anyone."
Her latest controversy, perhaps thankfully, has nothing to do with her relationship with her fans. Instead, Doja was accused of blackface ahead of the release of a playful interview where "Scarlett" interviews Doja.
Scarlet, as had been seen previously in multiple videos and even live performances, is coated in gloopy red paint. It was this that some mistook for blackface, leading Doja to share a few images of the character with the caption, ""YOU HAVE TO BE ... A VERY SPECIAL ... KIND ... OF F--KING STUPID."
She also had a nod to that comedic contention she shares with her afns in the clip. "This might be a silly question," asks "Scarlet" Doja in the clip. "Do you appreciate the people and the fans who support your music?"
Cutting over to Doja herself as the guest, we get a few snippets from her inner monologue -- "I hate my fans" and "My fans are dumb" -- before she answers out loud, "Yeah," and gets a huge reaction from the audience. You can check out that full self-interview below and her full in-depth and vulnerable conversation with Apple Music above.
Follow this link:
Doja Cat Reacts to Backlash Over Alt-Right Comedian T-Shirt: 'It Didn't Affect the World' - TooFab
- 'The Fandom' Review: Documentary Takes Viewers Into The Misunderstood World Of Furry Fandom - Cartoon Brew [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- MMA and QAnon: How fake news and conspiracies permeated the octagon - The Guardian [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Relative Of Ex-Marine Who Killed Black Protester During Scuffle Says He'd Been Raised In A 'Steaming, Giant Pot Of Racism' - Blavity [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Protesters gather in front of Vancouver city attorneys' homes - The Columbian [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- What's the deal with Twitter competitor Parler? - Slate [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Devin Nunes is still so sick over cow and alt-right mom Twitter trolls - Kulture Hub [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Catholics and alt-right clashed with protestors in Forest Park as activists called for removal of Louis IX statue - St. Louis American [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Discord Was Once The Alt-Rights Favorite Chat App. Now Its Gone Mainstream And Scored A New $3.5 Billion Valuation - Forbes [Last Updated On: July 5th, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 5th, 2020]
- Anti-maskers bring their misinformation to Halifax - Halifax Examiner [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- The Man in the Antifa Mask: Who he is and why he regrets showing up at a Coeur d'Alene protest with a crowbar - Pacific Northwest Inlander [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Anti-Greta and the challenges faced by young activists | Forge - ForgeToday [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Column: You want a toe? I can get you a toe. An unlikely path forward on the way to net-zero 2050 - BOE Report [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Pro-Trump cartoonist sues Anti-Defamation League for calling him anti-Semitic - PennLive [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- MSNBCs Joy Reid Makes Cable-Network History With the Debut of The ReidOut - Vogue [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- New Mexico's thin blurred line (The thin blurred line) High Country News Know the West - High Country News [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- It's Time To Defund The University of Mississippi Police Department - The Appeal [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- What is white nationalism? Take a look at Trumps agenda. - Vox.com [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Letter to the Editor: Alt-right conspiracies common on social media, talk radio and Fox network - Tulsa World [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Where Progressives and the Alt-Right Meet - The Bulwark [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- What You Need To Know About The Alt-Right Movement : NPR [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Alt-right | Definition of Alt-right by Merriam-Webster [Last Updated On: July 21st, 2020] [Originally Added On: July 21st, 2020]
- Trump has officially turned the GOP into the QAnon Party - Business Insider - Business Insider [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- Chuck Stephens on lockdown: Can we please go back to the Old Normal? - BizNews [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- Good Afternoon, News: Cops Turn Blind Eye to Violent Right Wingers, Falwell (and KellyAnne) Resign, and a Black Wisconsin Man Shot in the Back by... [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- Instructive bad reading, Part II: Dissecting fascism with the help of Might is Right - NPI's Cascadia Advocate [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- The heartbreak of loving a conspiracy theorist - Sydney Morning Herald [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- When You Say Yes to Hate: Dispatch From Portland - Reason [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- House Passes Bill to Halt Changes at USPS as Fears Mount over Mail-in Ballots - Democracy Now! [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- Vice Labels Critics of Proposed Warhammer 40k Direction As Alt-Right Minority - Bounding Into Comics [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- You Got to Be the Last Guy He Talks To.' The Rise and Fall of Trump Adviser Steve Bannon - TIME [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- Privacy and Alt-Right Transhumanism in Hari Kunzru's 'Red Pill' - PopMatters [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- Confessions of a Trump Troll - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- Richard Spencer Backs Joe Biden, Says 'MAGA/Alt-Right Moment is Over' - Newsweek [Last Updated On: August 24th, 2020] [Originally Added On: August 24th, 2020]
- Paul Gilroy: 'I dont think we can afford the luxury of pessimism' - The Guardian [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Groypers, Proud Boys, other far-right groups rally for Trump at 'Million MAGA March' - The Daily Dot [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Before Trump, South Korean Conservatives Also Claimed a 'Stolen' Election - The Diplomat [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Why Street Violence from Militias, Black Lives Matter, and Antifa Never Appeared - City Watch [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Plot To Infect New Zealand LGBTQI Community With COVID-19 Foiled - Star Observer [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- The left "fetishises council housing with the same conviction as the right fetishises traditional styles - Dezeen [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- News flash... Jesus wasn't white - The Chronicle - Duke Chronicle [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Swastikas off K Road: How the worst art show in New Zealand came to be - The Spinoff [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Will Trump Burn the Evidence? - The New Yorker [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Singh says government must move to counter hate groups, which have tripled since 2015 - Lethbridge News Now [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- The global right is threat to US Jews but a natural home for Israelis - +972 Magazine [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Trumpers Fail To Realize That Homelander Is the Villain of The Boys - The Mary Sue [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Imagining Donald Trumps Presidential Lie-Brary, and Other News - Surface Magazine [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- People Believe What They Want to Believe - City Watch [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- So Now What, Virginia? - The Republican Standard [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Slovenia's Prime Minister Is a Far-Right Conspiracy Theorist and Twitter Addict Who Won't Admit Trump Lost - Foreign Policy [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Can Pepe the Frog Ever Be Redeemed? - WIRED [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Could MAGA protests in DC end like Unite the Right 2 rally, in a whimper? - WUSA9.com [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- The Climate Movement Must Be Ready To Challenge Rising Right-Wing Environmentalism - Jacobin magazine [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- Why "Attack on Titan" Is the Alt-Right's Favorite Manga - The New Republic [Last Updated On: November 17th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 17th, 2020]
- The woman playing Stormfront is different in real life - Looper [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Kevin McKenna: Devolution has been a disaster for the Westminster Tory cult - The National [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Opinion: Letter to the Editor: Trumpism Shows Way Forward for Republicans? - Virginia Connection Newspapers [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Living in Borats America - The Nation [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Conservatives Are (Unsurprisingly) Wrong About Eastern Men, Masculinity, And Dresses - Junkee [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- The Boys Have the Last Word on Twitters Latest Meme | CBR - CBR - Comic Book Resources [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Citizens Disunited: The End of the Transatlantic Trumpist Alliance - Byline Times [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Right-wing media dismiss efforts to save thousands of lives as a "War on Thanksgiving" - Media Matters for America [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- The List: Ranking the candidates Trump could back for Ohio governor in 2022 - Columbus Alive [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- The crackpot factor: Why the GOP is worried about turning out the vote after Trump - Salon [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Can the right thrive on Parler? - New Statesman [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- CAMP: Stand up to your racist family - University of Virginia The Cavalier Daily [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Alt-right homophobe plots to infiltrate gay bar and deliberately infect LGBT+ community with COVID-19 - PinkNews [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- White Noise Director on Alt-Right: As Long as Trump Refuses to Concede, This Stuff Is Just Going to Fester - Variety [Last Updated On: November 18th, 2020] [Originally Added On: November 18th, 2020]
- Memes Are Dominating Attention Spans and Clicks Like Never Before. So Why Is Serious Socially Engaged Art Also Thriving? - artnet News [Last Updated On: December 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 26th, 2020]
- The Warriors Championship Glow Is Gone. And Yet - The New York Times [Last Updated On: December 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 26th, 2020]
- Microsoft Excel: 100 Shortcuts That Every Windows User Should Know - Gadgets 360 [Last Updated On: December 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 26th, 2020]
- The Things We (Actually) Loved Watching in 2020 - The Ringer [Last Updated On: December 26th, 2020] [Originally Added On: December 26th, 2020]
- Right-wing Twitter rival Parler removed from online platforms - DIGIT.FYI [Last Updated On: January 15th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 15th, 2021]
- Why some Trump supporters believe theres another American Revolution coming - Scroll.in [Last Updated On: January 15th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 15th, 2021]
- Decoding the Far-Right Symbols at the Capitol Riot - The New York Times [Last Updated On: January 15th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 15th, 2021]
- Why the alt-right believes another American Revolution is coming - The Conversation AU [Last Updated On: January 15th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 15th, 2021]
- Just How Many Texans Are in the Marvel Universe Now, Anyway? - Texas Monthly [Last Updated On: January 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 27th, 2021]
- 3 Observations About Culture, Politics, and Social Media Radicalization in the Post-Trump Era - artnet News [Last Updated On: January 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 27th, 2021]
- City-owned facilities being looked at for vaccination centres as part of province's distribution plan - Edmonton Journal [Last Updated On: January 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 27th, 2021]
- Global Right-Wing Extremism Networks Are Growing. The U.S. Is Just Now Catching Up. - ProPublica [Last Updated On: January 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 27th, 2021]
- We keep hearing Nazi parallels. What about the Communists? - Los Angeles Times [Last Updated On: January 27th, 2021] [Originally Added On: January 27th, 2021]