Doja Cat, to me, had a lot of potential to turn into an incredible artist. She started out from soundcloud and made her way to the top while connecting with her fans in funny and vulnerable ways. Her music was already amazing so early in her career, and I was excited to see what things she would produce over time, but it seems that things became too much for her, or maybe being nice to people just isn’t her thing. Doja Cat is ruining her own reputation and destroying her own career. I believe Doja enjoys being edgy and is using her many controversies in a way to get attention from incels on group chats and streams for her new boring songs. 

Doja Cat was a soundcloud rapper as a teenager before releasing her first debut single “So High” in 2014, before releasing her first extended play “Purr” later that year. She began to get more attention when she came out with the 2018 single “MOOO!” Her singles and albums from then on got a lot of attention because they were being used in TikTok dances, and it was simply good music. 

While she mostly flew under the radar in terms of controversy at the beginning of her career, a tweet from 2015 was exposed in 2018. Doja tagged TylerTheCreater and Earl Sweatshirt in a tweet and called them the f slur. Once this tweet was brought to light in 2018, Doja “apologized,” saying that just because she called people the f slur, it doesn’t mean she hates gay people, while proceeding to use said slur three times in her apology. Obviously she doesn’t know the weight of the word and doesn’t seem to care.

Stranger things season 4 was released on May 27, 2022. A new character,Eddie Munson, is played by Joseph Quinn. The moment his face appeared on the screen, the world was obsessed, and this did not exclude Doja Cat. Doja Cat proceeded to DM a star of the show, Noah Schnapp. Noah Schnapp is a teenager, known for his role as Will in “Stranger Things,” who is active on social media. She messaged him and said “Noah can u tell Joseph to hmu”

They proceeded to have a conversation about how Doja can contact the actor. Later, Schnapp posted a screenshot of the conversation on his TikTok.

Every fan base of a pop star has a name for themselves. Nicki Minaj has her Barbz, and Taylor Swift has her Swifties. So it wasn’t strange at all when Doja posted a poll on a tweet in 2020 asking her fans what she should call them. She gave them options between kittens and cubs, and kittens won. 

July 2023 a fan posting on the app threads, asking Doja to say she loved her fans, to which Doja replied “I don’t though cuz I don’t even know yall.” A different user posted on her reply saying that they don’t know her either, but Doja would be nothing without her fans, and they had supported her through thick and thin. Instead of ignoring the situation, Doja called this person crazy and said that they were not her mother. Doja posted on threads later saying “My fans don’t name themselves s***. If you call yourself a ‘kitten’ or a f****** ‘kittenz’ that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents around the house.” 

I’m not sure about you, but when I’m angry or annoyed with a group of people on the internet, I put down my phone and I take a break. I don’t address that group of people insulting them on a post, especially if that group of people are my fans, and support me. People brought up the point that Doja herself came up with the name, but Doja responded and said she came up with it when she was an alcoholic teen, despite the fact that Doja posted that tweet with the kitten poll when she was 24. Doja goes on and makes fun of other fans, really laying it on a particular fan account with Doja Cat’s government name in her username. While this may be a strange thing for the fan to do, this fan could be young, and Doja just crushed their dreams with a single post calling them creepy. 

Something creepier than that, however, is Doja Cat’s relationship with men. 

Doja Cat allegedly is dating J Cyrus, a twitch streamer that has multiple allegations against him from his female moderators, saying that he abused his position of power by manipulating and lying to several of them. He is also accused of flirting and talking to several young female fans, who were of age but there was a large age difference. There are several photos of Doja and J Cyrus together, including the two of them kissing on a yacht. 

When a fan commented on the fact that people were unstanning Doja, she responded in all caps “I DON’T GIVE A F*** WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT MY PERSONAL LIFE I NEVER HAVE AND NEVER WILL GIVE A F*** WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT ME OR MY PERSONAL LIFE GOODBYE AND GOOD RIDDANCE MISERABLE H*** HAHA!”. I don’t think this response was needed, and the tone definitely was inappropriate. Obviously Doja doesn’t care what people think about her, even if she is dating a creep. 

Doja has also been known to join calls in a video chat room called Tiny Chat, and she is seen flirting and making inappropriate comments and noises to appeal to the alt right incel men in the chat. She says the n word a few times with the hard r, trying to get a laugh from the white men.

If all of these things aren’t enough to make you frustrated or fed up with Doja Cat, this last and most recent thing might. 

On October 6th 2023, Doja Cat posted a picture on Instagram wearing a shirt with Sam Hyde holding a gun on it. Hyde is an American comedian and boxer known for his anti-semitic, racist, and homophobic rants in his comedy sketches. There is an ongoing meme on the internet– whenever there is a shooting, someone will post a picture of  Hyde holding a gun reporting that he was behind the shooting. 

Doja Cat wearing a shirt with him on it is extremely irresponsible as a person with a huge platform, especially with young fans. Even if it was a joke, it’s in bad taste to joke about shootings and just supporting someone so hateful. She received backlash and took down the post, only to repost a different photo with 39 rolling eye emojis, showing that she really was annoyed that she had to take down a controversial photo. 

It seems to me that Doja Cat is trying to win the “I don’t care” war, and she’s ruining her career while doing so. It doesn’t help the fact that the songs she’s been putting out lately are boring and strange. Doja Cats new album has had her releasing photos and music videos with satanic pictures and creepy costumes, trying to get a rise out of people. I believe that Doja Cat is self destructive and doesn’t know how to step back from something that makes her angry, which is something you need to know how to do when you’re a huge public figure. I will still be listening to her old music, but I am no longer interested in the things she does, nor will I be surprised anymore when she does something controversial.