Rapper met with backlash after he releases music video mimicking final moments of Ukrainian refugee killed on train
Rapper Jonathan Kirk, aka 'DaBaby', has received a fierce backlash for a new music video he's released which appears to mimic the recent killing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska.
On 22 August, the 23-year-old woman was fatally stabbed on a train in Charlotte, North Carolina, with alleged footage of the incident being shared online, despite the wishes of Zarutska's family.
The suspect in the killing is one Decarlos Brown Jr, 34, who was arrested and charged with first-degree murder, and the 23-year-old's loved ones have alleged that he was released on bail several months before the stabbing.
He will face trial at a later date, with US Attorney General Pam Bondi saying they'd be seeking the 'maximum penalty' and the prosecution's aim will be that Brown shall 'never again see the light of day as a free man'.
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Given that he has been charged with first-degree murder, Brown is eligible for the death penalty.
Among the responses to the killing of Iryna Zarutska has been a music video released by DaBaby which seems to depict the killing.
Yesterday (16 September) he posted a video to X captioned: "'SAVE ME' OUT NOW," which started with news footage of the 23-year-old's death and then transitioned to footage of the rapper sitting on a train as he started singing.
There was also footage of an actor dressed in a red hoodie, the same outfit the alleged killer had been wearing during footage of the stabbing, and a woman wearing the same t-shirt Zarutska had on.
In a subsequent video posted earlier today (17 September) DaBaby continues to rap on the train until the man in the red hoodie gets out a knife and tries to stab the woman dressed as Zarutska, but this time the rapper grabs his hand and leads him off the train, though not before the camera lingers on a shot of his presumably very expensive watch.
According to Axios, the rapper leaving the train with security gathered around was genuine, as they report that the Charlotte Area Transit System hadn't given them permission to film on the train, so the crew was kicked off.
The final shot of the video is a screenshot of a GoFundMe page for Iryna's family.
Both videos have been met with a deluge of comments telling the rapper to 'delete this'.
Indeed, many of the responses could be summed up along those lines as people struggled to understand the bizarre spectacle of a music video mimicking a recent killing.
Others condemned DaBaby as one person called the rapper 'such a f**king weirdo for using this woman's final moments as a rage bait visual for your music'.
People called the rapper 'deranged' and said 'you have lost your damn mind', while plenty wondered where the rappers PR team was for all of this.
DaBaby's second video was captioned: '#DontMissTheMessage', while on YouTube he called it 'A Dedication to Iryna Zarutska', but it didn't do much to stem the backlash as he was told 'your inability to read the room needs to be studied'.
There were some people who praised him for 'bringing attention to this tragedy', but his method of doing so has certainly been controversial.
LADbible has contacted DaBaby's representatives for comment.
Joe Harker