Babyface has been kicked off Anita Baker’s tour after the “Body and Soul” singer alleged she was being bullied by his “crazy” fanbase.
On Tuesday (June 13), Baker revealed she couldn’t take any more of the alleged abuse from the LaFace co-founder’s fans online and announced on Tuesday that he had been cut from her Songstress Tour, which will continue as scheduled later this month without Babyface.
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“After Silently, Enduring Cyber Bulling/Verbal Abuse & Threats of Violence from the Fan Base, of Our Special Guest/Support Act,” Baker wrote on Twitter. “In the Interest of Personal Safety. I will continue, The Songstress Tour, alone. Appropriate refunds will be made. Blessings.”
Babyface admitted he was “saddened” by the tour removal and the way things played out via social media: “I am saddened by the news that Anita Baker has decided to remove me from The Songstress Tour. It’s unfortunate and disheartening to see how things have played out via social media.
“While I was looking forward to the rest of the dates, I have nothing but love and respect for Anita and I wish her the best with for the remainder of the tour.”
Baker also responded to a series of tweets criticizing her, dubbing Babyface’s alleged “bully” fans as “Kenny’s Crazies.”
“There is A White man, behind these Grown Black Men… harassing Me & Gaslighting, My Fans,” she wrote while subliminally accusing somebody behind-the-scenes of the tour. “Because he Cant take over, this Tour… sO? He wants to Destroy it. Kenny’s Crazy Narcissist call off, your Boys.”
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Anita Baker continued claiming the internet trolls wanted to “fight” her: “These trolls… are *On Massa’s payroll*. Creating Fake News/Slander & Harrassment. This is what, happens, when Boundaries & Blessings, Manifest into Beautiful Karma & Growth. #AnitaBaker They wanna fight a 65 yr old Woman.”
Check out Anita Baker’s tweets below:
While plenty of fans weighed in on the matter in the replies of both Anita Baker and Babyface’s respective posts, R&B singer Tank put out a video defending Babyface and questioned Baker for sending one of his “heroes” home from the tour in an Instagram post on Tuesday.
“It’s really hard for me to stand by and let one of my heroes and one of the nicest human beings ever just be attacked and vilified for no reason,” Tank said. “Someobody has to say something. When a man stands accused of something he hasn’t done anything.
“Now you kick him off the tour? I want to respect my elders — stay out of grown folks business is what they say, but somebody gotta say something. You’re doing this to Babyface?!”
This is Anita Baker’s first headlining trek in nearly 28 years as the soul icon celebrates four decades since her album The Songstress arrived in 1983. The tour kicked off in February and is slated to run through December with the next date taking place in Chicago on June 30.
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The fallout between Anita Baker and Babyface comes a few months after the latter was ordered to fork out almost $40,000 per month to his ex-wife Nicole Pantenburg as part of their divorce settlement.
It came nearly two years after their divorce in the summer of 2021. The pair have one child together, a 14-year-old daughter named Peyton, who they’ve agreed to share joint legal and physical custody of.
