Doja Cat says she feels “free” after losing over 180,000 followers on Instagram. The musician acknowledged the mass unfollowing via her Instagram Stories on August 16, writing: “Seeing all these people unfollow me makes me feel like I've defeated a large beast that's been holding me down for so long and it feels like I can reconnect with the people who really matter and love me for who I am and not for who I was.”
The unfollowing took place in July after Doja responded to fans debating the name of her fanbase. “If you call yourself a ‘kitten’ or f*cking ‘kittenz’ that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house," she wrote in a now-deleted Threads post. When a fan asked her to post that she loved her fans, she replied with: "I don't though cuz I don't even know y'all." The rapper has since deleted her Threads account.
In a recent interview for Harper's Bazaar's latest Icons Issue, Doja Cat shared more about her views on fandom and being a real person and public figure at the same time. “My theory is that if someone has never met me in real life, then, subconsciously, I’m not real to them,” she said. “So when people become engaged with someone they don’t even know on the internet, they kind of take ownership over that person. They think that person belongs to them in some sense. And when that person changes drastically, there is a shock response that is almost uncontrollable… I’ve accepted that that’s what happens.”
The Grammy-winner went on to say that she's not bothered by the outrage anymore. “So I put my wigs on and take them off. I shave my head or my eyebrows. I have all the freedom in the world.”
Back in June, Doja released the first single off of her upcoming album Scarlet, titled “Attention.” The lyrics call out the entitlement and hypocrisy of some of her so-called “fans": “Talk your sh*t about me, I can easily disprove it, it's stupid / You follow me, but you don't really care about the music.”
Doja also told Bazaar that she doesn't see herself as an icon, though often dubbed one by her followers. “I think I deserve love and respect from the people that I love and respect back — and I guess respect means different things to some people,” she explained. “I put myself out there on social media and TV. I shoot my image out onto these screens. But I don’t really put myself out there in real life. I don’t go to clubs. I stick to creating.”
