Doja Cat, who dressed as a cat for the 2023 Met Gala, argued with fans over their “kittenz” nickname.
(Evan Agostini / Invision / Associated Press)

BY JONAH VALDEZSTAFF WRITER 

JULY 24, 2023 5:54 PM PT

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Despite covering her tracks and digital claw marks, Doja Cat left traces of an online scuffle with her fans over the weekend.

In a series of now-deleted messages on Threads, the “Kiss Me More” performer took jabs at her fan base, specifically several fan accounts that go by “Kittenz.” Think Beyoncé’s Beyhive, Taylor Swift’s Swifties, Nicki Minaj’s Barbz or BTS’ ARMY. The only difference is, Doja Cat rejects her fan base moniker altogether.

“My fans don’t name themselves s—,” she wrote on her Threads’ account in a rebuke of the Kittenz nickname, according to multiple outlets that took screenshots of the tweets. She then called for the end of her fan accounts. Since then, many of her most popular fan pages on Twitter have deactivated their accounts or have bid farewell.

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This isn’t the first outburst from Doja Cat toward her fans. Her thorny relationship with her fan base has been an intrinsic aspect of the Grammy winner’s career, her frustrations seemingly rooted in her discomfort with the demands of fame, as well as her desire to continually evolve artistically and defy her fans’ expectations. Here’s a glimpse into the Doja Cat versus Kittenz drama.

The Cat and her Kittenz

Sometime in 2020, Doja Cat began to notice several names floating around online for her fan base: “cubs” and “kittenz.” To whittle it down to a single identity, she asked which name her fans preferred, reluctantly tweeting out a poll, and explained: “Because I don’t feel morally right pet-naming you guys.” The results, according to screenshots of the since-deleted tweet: 74% for “Kittens (Litter)” and 26% for “Cubs (Pride).”

Since then, however, Doja Cat has sparingly used the name. The only known evidence of her using the term “Kittenz” was a promotional tweet for her 2019 single with Minaj, “Say So.” And over the weekend, seemingly unprovoked, Doja Cat disowned the name completely.

“My fans don’t name themselves s—,” she wrote on Threads. “If you call yourself a ‘kitten’ or f— ‘kittenz’ that means you need to get off your phone and get a job and help your parents with the house.”

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“What should I change my name to since you don’t like the term kitten,” asked fan account @thekittenzweb.

“Just delete the entire account and rethink everything, it’s never too late,” Doja Cat responded. And other fan accounts seemed to take notice and follow those orders as major fan pages, including Doja HQ the Kittens Room and Doja Cat News, deactivated their Twitter accounts. Another popular account, Doja Cat Stats, which has more than 60,000 followers, is still active but posted a parting message: “well it was a great time i guess, time to say goodbye.”

Doja Cat went on to defend her decree by posting, “My life my rules my style my attitude.” She shot down one fan account’s request to say that she loved her fans, writing: “I don’t though cuz I don’t even know ya’ll.” She went on to claw back at another fan who reminded her that she’d “be nothing” without their support. And she called an account that uses her full name, Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, as her screen name, “creepy as f—.”

The 27-year-old singer-rapper has since deactivated her Threads account.

Previous catfights

After severe weather conditions forced Doja Cat to miss a festival performance in Asunción, Paraguay in March 2022, fans online lamented her absence. They complained that she had started posting things about neighboring Brazil but didn’t share anything about her time in Paraguay. She apologized, which drew only more scrutiny, with one user calling her “PUBLIC ENEMY #1.”

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In response, Doja Cat rescinded her apology, writing: “I’m not sorry,” which led to even more online hate.

Doja changed her Twitter bio name to “i quit,” then updated it again to “i quit still.”

She wrote that she “can’t wait to f— disappear and I don’t need you to believe in me anymore. Everything is dead to me, music is dead, and i’m a f— fool for ever thinking I was made for this this is a f— nightmare unfollow me.”

Later in 2022, the “Woman” performer caught even more heat for apparently DM’ing Noah Schnapp, asking the “Stranger Things” actor, who was a minor at the time, to to connect her with his “fine” co-star Joseph Quinn.

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Schnapp went on to share the exchange with his 26 million followers on TikTok. (He then deleted it, but not before other users took screen shots of parts of it.) After Doja Cat called the actor a “borderline snake,” for the leak, she lost about 200,000 followers on Instagram.

Then, in April, Doja Cat started to tease new music with a bold pledge on Twitter: “Rap only … No more pop.” The announcement led to a candid exchange with her fans about what to expect from her forthcoming 2023 album. She said that “pop isn’t exciting to me anymore” and that her pivot was, in part, fueled by her haters, commenting, “getting tired of hearing yall say that i can’t [rap] so I will.”

‘Look at me, look at me, you lookin’?’

Doja Cat made good on her emcee promise, dropping her rap-centric single “Attention,” along with a music video, in June.

The release isn’t the first time she’s rapped her way through the majority of a track. She also did that with “Rules” from her 2019 album, “Hot Pink.” Even so, “Attention” offers a look into what may be a significant stylistic departure for the pop artist. And her fiery bars seem to address her ongoing misgivings toward her fans, fame and the media.

“Talk your s— about me, I can easily disprove it, it’s stupid / You follow me, but you don’t really care about the music,” she raps at the end of the song’s first verse. She addressed the Instagram Live video when she shaved her head and eyebrows, as well as the apparent beef and comparisons between her fans and those of Minaj.

In the music video, Doja Cat is seen driving alongside a crowd of screaming fans, who are reaching out to touch her, with paparazzi snapping photos of her. The most striking image of the video arrives at the start of the second verse when, for a brief second, Doja Cat stands bare-breasted, drenched head to toe in faux blood after she invites the viewer, “Look at me, look at me, I’m naked / Vulnerability earned me a lot of bacon.”

Amid the online drama over the weekend, fellow rapper Chika weighed in with her own take on fame, offering a defense for Doja Cat, “I think she’s tired of the public’s entitlement to her personal decisions & communication style.

“This is what happens when y’all take parasocial relationships too far,” the Grammy nominee continued. “[Y]’all don’t know celebrities. and she doesn’t owe anyone [for real]. she’s doing her job.”