Doja Cat denies ‘stripping for white supremacists’ in racist chatroom and ‘mocking police brutality’

‘Say So’ singer addressed allegations of racism that have engulfed Twitter in recent days

Doja Cat has denied being a part of a “white supremacist chatroom” in a lengthy Instagram Live stream in which she addressed the series of controversies that have engulfed her in recent days.

The pop star, who recently earned a US number one with her track “Say So”, was accused across social media of participating in racist chatroom conversations on the site TinyChat. A demo track titled “Dindu Nuffin”, titled after a racist meme typically used by the alt-right, was also unearthed, as well as claims that she had mocked the pronunciation of Beyoncé’s name.

Despite publishing an apologetic statement yesterday (25 May), Doja Cat revealed on Instagram Live this morning (26 May) that it was edited by her management team, and had decided to use her own live stream to address the controversy herself.

“Next [allegation] is ‘stripping for white supremacists’,” Doja said. “The chatroom that I go to is a public chatroom. It’s me and my friends, you go in there … I learned that there are racist people who come in and out of the chat. They’re there. They happen, and then they’re banned. The idea that this chatroom is a white supremacist chatroom is… I don’t understand it in any way. Not even.”

She said that racism happens “more” on TinyChat, in comparison to Twitter and Instagram, because it is “not as monitored”. “When you see racist s*** on TinyChat, it’s because people aren’t paying attention,” she added.

Addressing “Dindu Nuffin”, Doja said that she had been called the term in the same chatroom, and had attempted to reclaim it by using it in a song. She admitted that the song is “the worst”, saying that the lyrics made no sense, but also denied that it was in any way written to mock police brutality or Sandra Bland. Bland was a 28-year-old black woman who was found dead in a Texas jail cell in 2015, three days after being arrested during a traffic stop.

“That song is in zero ways connected to police brutality or Sandra Bland, and to see something like that, to see a song, 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,” Doja said.

Doja Cat also denied mocking Beyoncé, following a video that spread across social media in which she appears to refer to her as “Beyonkey”.

“I saw something about how people thought I was coming for Beyoncé?” Doja said. “Beyoncé is the cream of the f***ing crop. Beyoncé is the reason why I believe I can be who I am. Beyoncé is one of the driving forces of who I am in my career. Beyoncé is undeniably talented and every f***ing time anyone has ever came for Beyoncé, I was there. And that’s all I have to say.”

Last week, Doja was one of a number of female pop stars, including Beyoncé, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj, who were mentioned in an Instagram rant by Lana Del Rey, who claimed they had all had number one tracks about “being sexy and wearing no clothes”.