Da Brat was first seen Friday after publicly apologizing for a joke she made about her and her wife’s decision to date a non-black sperm donor.
The 49-year-old musician took the stage at the 2023 Black Music Honors at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia.
For her performance, she showed off her growing baby bump in a plain white T-shirt that she wore under a baggy khaki button-up shirt.
Her hair was worn in pigtails and as accessories she wore a cloth headband and a sparkling silver watch.
Da Brat rocked her belly between verses as the band rocked behind her.
Da Brat was first seen on Friday after publicly apologizing for a joke she made about her and her wife’s decision to date a non-black sperm donor
Peformer: The 49-year-old musician took the stage at the 2023 Black Music Honors at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center in Atlanta, Georgia
Days earlier, she appeared on the Tamron Hall show to address the backlash surrounding comments she made about not dating a black sperm donor.
She told the host that her comments were “taken out of context” and that it was never her intention to offend anyone.
“If I have offended anyone, I apologise. But it was a joke between me and my wife and the doctor. People.
Da Brat and wife Jesseca “Judy” Harris-Dupart, 41, got to meet with their fertility doctor and weigh their options on a recent episode of their reality show Brat Loves Judy.
When the results of Jesseca’s genetic testing were taken into account, the couple had only 224 donors whose samples they could use — only one of whom was black.
Their fertility specialist Dr. Obehi Asemota told them that “there are not enough black donors – black sperm donors, black egg donors.”
Da Brat, whose legal name is Shawntae Harris-Dupart, then joked that the only black donor available to them looked “like Jiminy Cricket.”
Social media users were quick to take offense at the Jiminy Cricket jibe and began to theorize that the pair simply preferred not to use a black donor.
Da Brat appeared at Tamron Hall with Judy to add context to her comments.
“I made fun of almost everyone I saw who just happened to be on the show. I wasn’t trying to be mean or say anything negative about black people,” she said.
The Chicago native added, “We were looking for a black donor. We are black, we wanted a black donor. So it was just misinterpreted and taken out of context.”
Apologized: Da Brat, shown with wife Jesseca ‘Judy’ Harris-Dupart in Atlanta in April, apologized Thursday at Tamron Hall for her comments
Mother-to-be: Jesseca, 41, has three children and a grandchild, while Da Brat, who is carrying the baby, will be a first-time mother
So in love: Da Brat and Jesseca, pictured in August 2021, went through the aisle in February 2022 and joyfully announced a year later that they are expecting their first child together
An exasperated Jesseca responded to the furore on her Instagram last week, writing, “So, as a mother of 3 beautiful black children and even a black granddaughter I want to CLARIFY S*** to prevent this STORYLINE from continuing that we choose our donor on appearance and that we didn’t want a black donor.’
She laid out a seven-point statement for her and Da Brat’s choice that began with, “1) WE HAVE NO IDEA THAT THE CHANCES OF A BLACK DONOR WOULD BE NONE 2) that I was a carrier of so many conditions 3) that our window was SOOOO thin and such a high risk because of age and more’.
Jesseca added: ‘4) with my genetic testing I am the carrier of 4 conditions, which reduced our chances of getting a black donor to 1 person and that 1 person had very limited info/portfolio to judge on…..including BACKGROUND’ .
She commented: ‘5) I’m honestly disappointed with the storyline more than anything, but understand the lack of knowledge about IVF in our community, because a lot of people don’t even realize all the things involved in the journey, including LACK OF BLACK DONORS, genetic testing, age when most eggs are gone, etc’.
Jesseca acknowledged: ‘6) the headlines are misleading but also my wife made an unsavory joke and now it’s attached to the headline and it seems like we choose strictly on looks and we didn’t try to find a black donor at all when in fact not only did we try, but we waited to see if more would emerge over time – but we had to stay within the window we had to choose.”
She pointed out, “Plus, just because you have money, people think that ANYTHING is possible, but no amount of money is changing the inventory of the cryobanks.”
Further, Jesseca wrote, “7) making our baby with a HEALTHY baby first mentality once we learned all the things was a hard decision and of course we didn’t want to add any other stigmas or anything to our child but we had SERIOUSLY limited options .’
Finally, she offered, “Thanks to all the people who support us on our journey and I really hope this raises the awareness of more black men to donate.”
Da Brat and Jesseca went through the aisle last February and joyfully announced a year later that the former is pregnant with their first child together.
“I never thought I would have children,” Da Brat confessed People. “I just thought it wasn’t in the cards for me. I’ve had a great career, a full life. I felt like because I hadn’t gotten pregnant before, it just wasn’t going to happen for me.”
However, her relationship with Jesseca pushed her to “look at life so differently.” I was like, I want a little me with you. Something special from both of us that we can share and nurture and love unconditionally.”