While some celebrities, like Carpenter, have used their platforms to uplift the LGBTQ+ community, not all stars are as inclusive, to say the least. Here are five high-profile people who have faced backlash for making derogatory remarks or hate speech.
1. Paris Hilton
Hilton faced significant backlash and issued an apology the same day, expressing regret for causing distress to her gay friends, fans and their families.
A Hilton spokesperson confirmed to CNN that the recording was authentic and insisted Hilton's comments were not homophobic, but were intended to express concerns about unprotected sex.
2. DaBaby
During a performance at Rolling Loud Miami in July 2021, DaBaby made homophobic and misogynistic comments targeting people with HIV and AIDS, as well as derogatory remarks about gay men.
He urged fans in the audience to turn on their cell phone lighters if they did not have HIV, AIDS or other sexually transmitted diseases, telling the crowd: “Ladies, if you're not sucking dick in the park, turn on your cell phone lighters.” He also made derogatory remarks about women, adding: “Ladies, if your dick smells like water, turn on your cell phone lighters.”
“I don't rant. That's called a call to action. That's what it's called. Because I'm a live performer,” DaBaby defended in an Instagram Story. “I'm the best live performer. I'm a live show killer.”
However, he later apologised on social media, writing, “I apologise for the incorrect statements I made about HIV/AIDS. I understand that education on this subject is important.”
3. Donald Trump
In a video posted to social media last year, Trump vowed that if re-elected, he would punish doctors who perform gender reassignment procedures on minors, which he equated to “child abuse” and “child sexual mutilation.”
In the same video, he also proposed banning federal agencies from promoting the concepts of gender or gender reassignment and requiring federal law to recognize only two genders. These actions sparked huge controversy, with transgender advocates denouncing the proposed policies as discriminatory and harmful.
4. J.K. Rowling
In 2018, she reportedly “liked” a post on Twitter that called transgender women “men in dresses” and claimed trans rights were “misogynistic.” She later apologized and claimed it was an accident.
In a 2020 post on X, Rowling continued to stir controversy by criticizing the trans-inclusive phrase “people who menstruate” and suggesting it erases the word “woman.” She then posted a thread suggesting trans activists were trying to erase the concept of biological sex.
In May 2024, Rowling published several posts on X in which she called a transgender female football manager a “straight man dressed as a woman” and one of the “straight, white, middle-aged men.”
5. Dave Chappelle
In the special program of 2021 closeIn it, he called himself “Dave Chappelle, the transphobic comedian,” joked about the DaBaby incident at Rolling Loud, made more derogatory comments about the LGBTQ+ community, and mocked how the United States is described as a place where “you can shoot and kill people, but you can't hurt gay people's feelings,” despite the hardships and discrimination that gay Americans face on a daily basis.
Chappelle also criticized the LGBTQ+ community for “cancelling” them.[ling]”I called J.K. Rowling a 'TERF' (trans-exclusionary radical feminist),” he claimed, “without even knowing what the hell that was, but I knew trans people were making up words to win arguments.”
