But that can be a temporary cop out for artists and their publicists, especially when it arrives at a time when they’re at the point of making it big. Once they know that their favourite artist has ‘made a mistake’, they’re happy enough to move on, continuing to purchase gig tickets and their music. Often, all the general public are looking for is an apology, no matter how insincere it may seem. Then, to top it all off, you have tone-deaf comments from 47-year-old Kid Rock, who still uses ‘gay’ in interviews as a synonym for ‘shit’ – the same way a nine-year-old schoolkid does. Who could forget the time Offset rapped the line, ‘ I do not vibe with queers” on 2018’s ‘Boss Life’, and then claimed he meant it in the archaic, “odd” sense? Or when Quavo scoffed at ILoveMakonnen coming out as gay, calling it “whack” as Makonnen had been “talking about trapping and selling Molly” in the past? Of course, Quavo pulled the classic ‘I know someone who is/have worked with/have a family member who is gay’ card, claiming his link-up with Frank Ocean for Calvin Harris’ ‘Slide’ is definitive proof he could have never expressed homophobic thoughts – and meant them – in the past. Migos are some of the most prolific users of homophobic language in hip-hop right now.
What, apart from that time you used gay as a pejorative remark last week? The fact that anybody with an influential platform would consider that fine is strange enough, but he followed it up with an apology that made no sense considering the rap he’d evidently written and performed: “I’ve never been homophobic,” he claimed. In it, Stanfield spat the lines: “ That’s some gay shit” and “ F*g, I don’t really like to brag/ But I’m straight, rich“. Just his week, Atlanta and Get Out star Lakeith Stanfield was forced to apologise after he released an impromptu rap verse on his Instagram feed, titled ‘Offensive Freestyle (not for the easily-offended)’. Instances of homophobia in music aren’t rare, nor part of the industry’s past. They had to watch an artist who proudly beat up a gay man he suspected of being predatory towards him – an act that was wholly based on his victim’s sexuality, with no real evidence otherwise – achieve one final moment of success. For any other artist, it would be a fitting memorial to a musician who’d inspired a generation – sometimes multiple generations – with their work, but it’s a crushing loss, both for women (XXX’s notoriety extends to allegations of domestic abuse) and the LGBTQ+ community. This week, XXXtentacion’s ‘Sad’ topped the Billboard Hot 100, a direct reaction to the rapper’s murder. He’s spurred on by the equally homophobic co-host his well-meaning sentiment rendered useless by the bloodthirsty and chilling vitriol that follows it. If a homosexual man is around me, I won’t act like a fucking prick”. He uses the slur a few more times, before clearing the air: “I am not homophobic. “Do you think I should tell that story about that f*ggot I beat up?” he asks fellow rapper Ski Mask the Slump God, sitting next to him and laughing as he recorded an interview with the LA-based podcast No Jumper back in April 2016. XXXTentacion recalls the time he almost killed a gay man with a strange kind of nonchalance as if he’s talking about an animal he’s hunted down, rather than a person.