Doja Cat denies 'stripping for white supremacists', apologises for controversial song

Doja Cat denies 'stripping for white supremacists', apologises for controversial song
Photo credit: Instagram/Doja Cat

Pop star Doja Cat has refuted claims she once "stripped for white supremacists" as well as apologising for writing a song that used racist phrases. 

The 'Say So' singer, who's music rocketed to international fame with the help of social media platforms like TikTok, addressed a list of accusations made against her in a 30 minute Instagram video. 

After a clip of Doja Cat posing suggestively during a video chat session circulated online, the 24-year-old insisted that while racism did occur on the online forums she was a part of, she was not directly involved. 

"The idea that this chat room is a white supremacist chatroom, I don't understand it in any way," she said. 

Referring to online chat website Tinychat, Doja Cat continued: "I learned that there are racist people who come in and out of the chat - they're there. 

"There is racism that happens across Tinychat and Instagram and Twitter. This shit happens everywhere. It just happens more on Tinychat because it's not as monitored." 

The rapper, whose real name is Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini said that the "narrative" of the chatroom having alt-right connections was "completely incorrect". 

Doja Cat also apologised to anyone who was offended by the discovery of a song she wrote in 2015 entitled 'Dindu Nuffin' - generally used as a racist slur and often in the context of police brutality against people of colour. 

The singer called the track "lyrically lost" and "maybe the worst song in the entire world" but was adamant it was "in no way connected to police brutality". Some social media users suggested the lyrics related to the death of Sandra Bland, a black woman who died in police custody around the time the song was written. 

"To see my song that I made connected to an innocent black woman's death is one of the most awful rumours that I've ever encountered," she said. 

In a written apology posted to Instagram, Doja Cat said she was "very proud" of her heritage. 

"I'm a black woman. Half of my family is black from South Africa," she wrote. 

The American songwriter said she had employed the term 'Dindu Nuffin' in an attempt to "flip its meaning", but now recognised it was a "bad decision". 

"I understand my influence and impact and I'm taking this all very seriously," she wrote. 

"I love you all and I'm sorry for upsetting or hurting any of you."