ANITA BAKER has announced that Babyface will no longer be providing support on the remainder of her North American tour, following a Twitter spat with some of the songwriter/producer’s fans. On Tuesday, the 65-year-old musician used Twitter to update her 751,000 followers on specifics.
Baker tweeted on June 13, “After Silently, Enduring Cyber Bulling/Verbal Abuse & Threats of Violence from the Fan Base, of Our Special Guest/Support Act. In the Interest of Personal Safety. I will continue, The Songstress Tour, alone. Appropriate refunds will be made.”
After being dropped from the tour, Babyface responded in a statement to ET.
“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,” he said. “While I was looking forward to the rest of the dates, I have nothing but love & respect for Anita and I wish her the best for the remainder of her tour.”
The announcement came after Baker spent a significant amount of the previous two days engaging in heated online debates with Babyface’s supporters and perhaps firing a few shots at Babyface.
The drama centered on a performance in May at the Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey. Technical difficulties, according to reports at the time, caused the show to be delayed by a few hours. The decision was made to cancel Babyface’s show once everything was prepared so that Baker would have ample time to execute her headlining set.
Anita claims that since the cancellation, Babyface’s fanbase has been threatening her. She labeled his followers on Twitter as “crazies.” Later, in a statement to TMZ, Babyface explained his position on Baker and said that he had no animosity against her.
