Doja Cat can’t stop beefing with her own fans
Doja Cat declaring that her fanbase isn't allowed to name itself is the latest in a string of spats with her own supporters
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Doja Cat is no stranger to controversy; in fact, she often seems to court it. She is perhaps the first true Gen Z pop star, in spirit if not strictly in age. She’s an organic celebrity, self-made, a product of the Internet at large and chat rooms she might’ve been a bit too young for in particular. She’s been called an “edgelord” and a master shitposter, which makes it hard to tell, sometimes, when the sparring with her fans is ironic or sincere.
Such is the case with her latest online kerfuffle, which took place mostly on Instagram Threads as well as the platform formerly known as Twitter. “[My] fans don’t name themselves shit. If you call yourself a ‘kitten’ or fucking ‘kittenz’ that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house,” she declared in a since-deleted post. To a “kitten” who asked what they should rename their profile, she snarkily replied, “just delete the entire account and rethink everything it’s not too late” (via Page Six).
It’s not immediately clear whether Doja was trying to be playful with her fans or not, but a good number of “Kittenz” took offense. Some large fan pages shut down their accounts, while others pointed out that she had endorsed the name in the past. After all, it’s a cute connection to her own stage name. But the rapper, whose birth name is Amala Dlamini, isn’t necessarily thrilled with the stage name she got stuck with. Sure, she showed up to the Met Gala in full cat cosplay, but according to a Rolling Stone profile, she’s tried to change the name multiple times over the years. In this latest spat with fans, she claimed she chose it when she was an “alcoholic teen.”
Doja’s prolific posting tends to blur the lines between genuine emotion and joking around. Earlier this year, she put fans through the runaround by tweeting “i quit music,” then “jk,” then “no I’m serious I quit music,” then, “jk I’m not. Relax,” then, “jk i quit I’m done with this music shit it’s only making me sadder every day. i can’t take it anymore,” then, “[jk] ima finish this album yall dont worry.” Her digital strategy is almost purposely confusing: she told Rolling Stone in 2021 that she prefers not to be serious online, but if she was to say something meaningful, she’d have to undercut it with a joke. “[Honestly] I think it’s better to tweet the shitpost than it is to tweet anything that means anything, because who fucking cares? Nobody cares,” she said.
So maybe her posts antagonizing her fans aren’t that deep, but maybe she’s hiding some truth in there, too. Her posts over the weekend emanated frustration over the lack of boundaries in stan culture. “[You] making my government name your [screenname] is creepy as fuck,” she replied to one fan. When another asked if she’d say she loved her fans, Doja responded, “i don’t though cuz i don’t even know yall.” Admonished by yet another user who argued that Doja owes her career to her fans, the artist clapped back, “nobody forced you idk why you’re talking to me like you’re my mother bitch you sound like a crazy person.”
Doja Cat is still navigating her relationship with her fans
Doja pushing back on boundaries is particularly interesting given the distinct lack of boundaries she’s maintained online. Her career started on MySpace back in the day, while in recent years she’s been known to spend long periods of time livestreaming on Instagram. Some of this reticence might be related to her reported romantic relationship, which has garnered criticism from fans. It might also stem from a desire to separate her pop star persona from her actual personal life. “I don’t like to just parade personal experiences through my music because everybody has something to say about me and they think they fucking know me,” she explained in that Rolling Stone profile. “That kind of turns your life into this big, big Broadway show.”
That might be the real reason Doja can’t stop picking fights with fans: a resentment towards the fame machine that she still hasn’t learned to comfortably navigate. In 2022, after catching heat for not greeting fans outside of her hotel in Paraguay, she posted, “it’s gone and i don’t give a fuck anymore i fuckin quit i can’t wait to fucking disappear and i don’t need you to believe in me anymore. Everything is dead to me, music is dead, and i’m a fucking fool for ever thinking I was made for this this is a fucking nightmare unfollow me.” On another occasion, she posted about not being happy because she was burnt out: “Im never not working. Im fucking tired. [I] just keep agreeing to shit I dont wanna do in the future. Its my own dumb ass fault. And then im too tired to put any effort into this shit. Cuz im so run down from everything else.”
In her Rolling Stone interview back in 2021, Doja Cat claimed she’d “backed away from” social media—which obviously wasn’t fully the case. It’s not easy to disconnect for someone who is a child of the Internet, and especially for someone who owes a lot to the Internet for her homegrown success. Yet there’s another clue, in that profile, as to what triggers a Doja tirade: she said she’d backed off social media unless “I’m lonely or alone, and then I go on Twitter and fucking fire off tweets for two hours straight.”
It follows, then, that Doja’s most antagonistic posts (“you know this is a death threat right? no matter how funny you think this is because you think it’s some kind of meme it’s actually considered a death threat so I don’t know if you realize how bad this makes you look,” she fired off on Thursday) come from a less-than-healthy mindset. It’s also clear that while fans’ lack of boundaries is a source of frustration, she hasn’t yet constructed her own in figuring out how to interact with them.
Doja ended her social media spree with what might qualify as more shitposting. On Instagram, she shared some creepy out-of-context images that are presumably visuals for her upcoming album, mixed with weird memes and the lyrics to The Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror.” On Twitter, she posted, “Can’t wait to go on tour! Love you guys! Feeling blessed. <3” You can decide for yourself whether that’s the meaningful post itself or the joke to undercut the genuine sentiments that preceded it. Maybe it’s both.
35 Comments
self-madeNo one is self-made. The best you can say is she is algorithm-made.
You can decide for yourself whether that’s the meaningful post itself or the joke to undercut the genuine sentiments that preceded it. Maybe it’s both.It’s tedious. That’s what it is.
Imagine caring what your favorite musician thinks of you
Well, imagine caring what Doja Cat thinks of you. She is dating a racist and hung out online with racists
Right, but I don’t give a shit. I’m never going to have to socially interact with Doja Cat. I will never have to work with Doja Cat. She might as well be an algorithm on a server in someone’s basement for as much bearing as she has on my life. She is functionally identical to say, Hatsune Miku. And even if she was the nicest person ever, even if she was a total angel who genuinely cared about all of her fans, no real relationship will ever exist between us beyond that.
I dunno, I don’t listen to either Doja Cat or Hatsune Miku vocaloid stuff but I think I’d prefer to be known as a Miku fan than a Doja Cat one.
I kinda get the feeling Doja Cat is gonna wind up going full Kanye within the next few years.
Well, she got big on Youtube before the transition to actual stage so yeah, an insincere apology video containing the words “texting minors” is almost inevitable.
No mention of her previous issues???
Exactly what I think of when weirdos fawn over her. She spent a LOT of time in RWNJ chats, then played it off like it didn’t happen. There fans that are upset that she doesn’t embrace them are the same ones the vehemently defend and deny that.
She’s a Black Woman therefore she can be as problematic as she wants to be without repercussion.
Doja Cat can’t stop beefing with her own fansseems like a terrible person and no one should be her fanftfy
Maybe she should change her name to X. What could possiblie go wrong?
I got an MC Skat Kat notification for this?
“She is perhaps the first true Gen Z pop star.”I think that would be Billie Eilish. Maybe Lorde depending on what year you consider the cut off.
I think Lorde may have just aged out. Eilish is a safe choice.
Imagine how empty are the husks who love this unbearably exhausting product.
Seriously, though, this is kind of tragic. There’s a lot of people out there who can’t afford to take a vacation or their work won’t allow them to take one when they need it. I imagine she thinks if she takes a month off she’ll become irrelevant and the reward for success is getting handed Sisyphus’ boulder.
1. No one who had a Myspace account could be Gen Z2. This person sounds unhinged and I worry about their mental state, while questioning their fans willingness to be abused.3. This person is right on with so many awful aspects of parasocial relationships and I respect them for not allowing themselves to be used. The way Swifties engage with their stan is horrifying and makes me anxious about the 2036 election, where president-elect Swift gets us embroiled The Cobalt Wars.
The irony is that shit posting at strangers is the only sane way to interact with the website FKA Twitter, but it makes the poster seem crazy. It’s like the Twilight Zone.
Wow, this comment thread is filled with lots of grumpy old people. Y’all really don’t come here for the hunting, huh?
Our collective prostates are acting up.Don’t worry, though… it’s not like the next generation is going to level the same criticisms at you when you’re older.
“Our collective prostates are acting up.”You need more blowjobs in your life, pops.
If I had to guess which major pop star would actually show up under a pseudonym in the AV Club comments to counter-post, it would probably be Doja Cat.
Reading about Doja Cat’s open contempt for social media makes me want to buy one of her albums for my commute.
She should get some kind of award and cash prize. It makes me feel like I’m taking crazy pills that being creepily obsessive and stalkery is just the expected behaviour for anyone that like a musician now. People go around calling themselves stans as if they didn’t know that means “deranged to the point of being a danger to themselves and others”, except that they clearly know and happily sign off on it.The day a Taylor Swift or Beyonce declares that if you call yourself a “swiftie” or “in the Beyhive” and use a picture of her as your profile pic, you probably need medication and counseling, I will say she’s worth the hype, but no sooner.
To be fair, once fandoms get a name they kinda become really shitty and this has held true since the dawn of Trekkies/Trekkers.
Heck, they even argue over whether they’re called Trekkies or Trekkers.
I mean the star wars fans are as bad and they don’t have a name…right?
MSTies and Kids in the Hall fans disagree
Hard hitting journalism.
Every time I’m on the verge of telling a stranger, “You spend too much time here, log off, and come up for air,” I stop to realize I’m really telling MYSELF that. Go outside for a bit, Doja.