(NewsNation) — Rapper Da Baby is in hot water over his new music video, where he recreated the Charlotte light rail stabbing.
His music video “Save Me” opened with surveillance video showing Iryna Zarutska getting fatally stabbed on the Charlotte Area Transit System train last month.
In the video, DaBaby is seen wearing a black hoodie and sitting on the light rail while rapping. A notable figure in the scene is a man in a red hoodie, reminiscent of the attire worn by suspect Decarlos Brown Jr. before he allegedly attacked Zarutska.
As the video unfolds, a woman, portraying 23-year-old Zarutska, boards the train. Tension builds when the man in the red hoodie appears to threaten her with a knife. However, in a dramatic twist in “Save Me,” DaBaby intervenes, preventing the attack and saving the woman.
He dedicates the video to Zarutska, showing a screenshot of a GoFundMe page from her family. He included a link to the page, which has raised more than $445,000 as of Thursday morning.
What happened to Iryna Zarutska
In the surveillance video, Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, can be seen boarding a light rail Lynx car and sitting down in front of Brown. After nearly five minutes, the video shows Brown pulling out a folding knife and attacking her.
Police say he stabbed Zarutska three times, including a fatal blow to the neck, before walking the length of the train and exiting. Transit police arrived within minutes, but she was pronounced dead.
Brown, who police say is homeless and has a criminal record, was arrested and charged with murder.
Backlash against DaBaby
People took to social media to decry the music video, but also to praise the rapper for raising attention about Zarutska’s death.
“What in the world made him think it was OK to post that?” TikTok user 404Breezy said in a video. “My first thought was ‘Who let you put that out?’ On your team, who let you say, ‘Ah, that was a good idea?’ They need to be fired.”
“I’m sorry, that affect that you trying to capitalize on this. It’s to (sic) fresh. This is sick!” someone commented under the YouTube video, according to The Independent.
“I respect him in a whole new way, beyond his music. Thank you for showing that violence for no reason is wrong. Da baby, big ups to you!” another person said.