Though Doja Cat didn’t go into detail about what had happened when she tried to make plans with Dumisani Dlamini in her early teens, she hinted that his schedule had something to do with it. “He’s, you know, probably still doing … stuff,” the “Balut” rapper mused to Radio One D.C. Two years later, speaking to Rolling Stone, she explained that her mom had always told her he was on tour. A friend revealed to the outlet that the situation had taken a toll on Doja, especially when she was younger. “She’d say, ‘My dad is gonna come, he lives in Africa, he’s just performing,’ and he wouldn’t come,” Gabrielle Hames recounted.
Dlamini had a different view. Speaking to South African radio station Metro FM, the performer slammed American media for spreading the story. He claimed it was a publicity stunt — and also alleged that his attempts at reaching out to Doja had been thwarted by her management. His take was that her team was concerned that if they’d reconnected, Doja might feel compelled to step away from her career. Pushed for whether they’d had a relationship prior to the headlines, he said they’d spoken before.
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Nevertheless, like his daughter, Dlamini said he wouldn’t be opposed to meeting in the future. In fact, he expressed that he wanted her to reconnect with her Zulu roots.
