Doja Cat’s Dad Claims She Was ‘Brainwashed’ by Her Mom, Defends Himself Publicly

Sometimes, family disagreements stay private. Other times, they end up all over the internet. That is exactly what is happening between Doja Cat and her father, Dumisani Dlamini.

Dlamini has now spoken out about their relationship, pushing back against the way he has been described and sharing his side of the story in a series of videos.

In videos that were first shared on Instagram and later removed, Dlamini responded to Doja’s recent comments about struggling to connect with him while she was on tour in South Africa.

He said he has “worked so hard” to build his name and pointed to his role in the 1992 film Sarafina! as proof of his dedication. He also argued that the idea of him being “not a good man” is not true.

“Today, I want to tell the world that I'm not gonna be used by a white woman with three kids that I was feeding those kids with the money of Sarafina!,” Dlamini said. “And my name and my reputation as a good man, I love my kids. I took care of her kids, [Doja’s mother] Deborah [Sawyer]. Three kids, white kids, they hated me. And on top of that, I spoke to Deborah that I would love you to come home, and she came home. She met my family. But no one ever talks about that.”

He continued by saying the situation has been misunderstood and influenced by others.

“And today, just because I gave birth to a superstar with money, and then it happened that white woman brainwashed my baby that I left her. I never left my kid. And everyone saw it. She played the cards because of the influence of her mother. She came to South Africa. She's got power to see me, and she faked it. So what I want to say is to say to you guys, I am sorry if I've touched anyone's nerve. I'm a man of integrity, respect, and love. Please don't hate my baby.”

Before her father’s response, Doja had already been talking to fans about their relationship, mixing honesty with humor.

She shared that she trolled her father by sending him a gay porn link instead of a ticket to one of her Tour Ma Vie shows. According to her, he said he could not attend because she did not message or call him enough.

“He said, ‘Darling, what is this? This, what I'm seeing, is gay porn. It's like a porno on my screen, and I don't know if it's a scam ‘cause I feel like they're scamming here. So please, sweetheart, I don't know what to do with this. I can't get the ticket,’” Doja added of the exchange in a TikTok video captioned “The Deadbeat Chronicles.”

This was not the first time she called him a “deadbeat.” In 2024, she used the same word while talking about plans to diss him in music, though she later walked that back.

“Jk I love you,” Doja later said, seemingly taking back her original remarks. “I was mad.”

As of now, Doja has not publicly responded to her father’s latest comments. What started as personal tension has turned into a very public back-and-forth, with fans watching closely.

At the center of it all is a complicated relationship that, like many family stories, has more than one side.