Source: Scott Dudelson / Getty
Doja Cat’s public persona is light, bubbly and flirty. But, sadly, we all live in the real world. And in addition to her public persona, there’s the reality of her life and the fact that she doesn’t have a relationship with her father, South African actor, composer and film producer, Dumisani Dlamini.
Dlamini is perhaps best known to international audiences for his role as Crocodile in the film Sarafina! starring Whoopi Goldberg.
This week, a clip of Doja Cat meeting Whoopi resurfaced online. The two had a pretty sad conversation about Dlamini.
In a backstage conversation, Whoopi asks Doja, “How you doing?” To which the rapper responds, “Great, I’m just thinking about my dad because he was in Sarafina! Yeah so seeing you and meeting you is like the craziest thing.”
Whoopi said, “What was your dad’s name?”
Doja: “Dumisani.”
Whoopi: Get out of here!
Doja: Yeah, he’s Crocodile.
Whoopi: Oh shit.
Doja: Yeah isn’t that crazy. And I didn’t get to meet him but you did.
Whoopi kind of nods in a sad recognition.
Doja: Dammit. But that’s so cool.
Whoopi: A good man, really a good man. Yeah.
https://twitter.com/DojaNews/status/1252738836653801473
He may have been a good man to Whoopi but Doja doesn’t even know enough to be able to say the same.
While the two have never met physically, Doja shared in a 2019 interview with The Quick Silva Show that while they don’t know each other, he seems to be supportive of her music career.
“I’ve never met him and he’s on Instagram and he comments on my pictures sometimes. Maybe not anymore but he did a few times, like months ago. He’s an incredible dancer and a great actor but I don’t know him very well.”
In a separate interview with Hot New Hip Hop, Doja Cat shared some of the comments he’s left.
“My dad’s proud of me. He’s excited. He’s all over my Instagram. But what’s funny is I never met him. He’s all in the comments like, ‘My African princess!’ And I’m like ‘Whaaaat?!’”
They asked her if the two ever tried to connect. She said, “I guess when I was like 13, I wanted to see him and then I don’t know what happened.”
Then they asked if she would be open to meeting him now. She said, “Yeah sure, why not? He’s probably still busy doing stuff. But yeah I’d be down to meet him.”
As far as Dlamini, during an interview with TshisaLive, he said that after Sarafina! promotional toru wrapped, he decided to stay in America. That’s where he met Deborah Elizabeth Sawyer, a Jewish-American woman. They started a family together and had two children.
He told Tshisa Live, “Beautiful girl (who goes by) the name Doja Cat, she’s singing with Nicki Minaj. If you google you will see, it’s D. O. J. A. C. A. T, she’s one of the best singers now in America. That’s my daughter,” the 55-year-old told the publication at the time.”
In terms of leaving America and his children, Dlamini said that after being in America for 15 years, he couldn’t shake the feeling of homesickness he felt. So he returned to South Africa. He intended on bringing his family back at a later date but things didn’t work out as planned.
Still he claims to have maintained a relationship with his children.
“I am close to my kids, all of them. I love them and they love me.”
A bit of delusion there but alright.
