Anita Baker is asking Babyface to call off fans she said are bullying and threatening her.
According to Anita, Babyface has been breaching his contract as an opening act by staying onstage past his set time, which cuts into her headlining performance.
Fans lashed out at Anita for not acknowledging Babyface as her equal — to which she informed him the “Whip Appeal” singer is certainly NOT … at least as where The Songstress Tour is concerned.
Baker says fans of the R&B songwriter-producer have been threatening her, as a result of him not performing during a May show on her Songstress tour. She’s dubbed them “Kenny’s Crazies.”
“Some of his fans, are not accepting of the reality, that he is contracted, as special guest support, on My Tour. Some even want to hurt me… Crazyyyy. Town,”
Baker tweeted Monday.
The tweets picked up after Babyface’s NPR Tiny Desk concert performance hit the internet Friday.
Baker said she was tweeting to salvage her reputation, as she doesn’t do press. “I’m praying the truth reaches my global fan base and my reputation is restored,” she wrote.
The night of the New Jersey concert, Babyface took to social media to tell fans he was asked not to take the stage at the Prudential Center so that headliner Baker could perform her full set after the show got off to a late start.
“I am truly sorry to my fans who have been waiting for us to hit the stage this evening at @PruCenter. I was asked not to perform in order to give Ms. Baker her space and time to perform her show in its entirety. My band and I are extremely saddened we didn’t get to perform for y’all tonight,” he posted on Twitter.
As reported, the iconic songbird is on tour with the prolific music maestro (who is her special guest on the trek) and made headlines when she was accused by some of booting the R&B pioneer off of a particular date for reasons unknown.
Babyface clarified that his announcement of his absence from said date wasn’t him throwing “shade” Baker, but rather a case of simply explaining why he wouldn’t be performing that night.
Still, it hasn’t stopped folk from taking aim at the “Caught Up in the Rapture” songstress.
The multi-city event is supposed to be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Anita’s debut album … but things have mostly been boiling in beef.