Doja Cat's Topless Photos Spark Firestorm: 'People Are Body Shaming'

Doja Cat showed off a good portion of her birthday suit during her 27th birthday party, setting off a predictable backlash on social media.

The rapper and singer, whose real name is Amala Ratna Zandile Dlamini, celebrated her birthday on October 21. She posed for topless photos during the party, which she was proud to share the following day.

"IF ANYBODY GOT NUDES OF ME FROM LAST NIGHT PLEASE SEND CUZ I WANNA POST EM," the artist tweeted on October 22.

Doja Cat followed the tweet with an image of herself topless alongside her friends. Although that post has been deleted, reposts and photo replies quickly spread across social media. The images prompted an inevitable wave of alarm over the artist's "morals" and scrutiny over her body parts, but scathing fans came to her defense.

"The guys calling Doja Cat's boobs saggy are basically admitting how addicted to [porn] they are," said one woman's TikTok video with 4.1 million views. "Sorry they aren't fake and don't go up to her shoulders [I guess]?"

In a tweet with over 150,000 likes, another fan piled on, "'Doja Cat's leaks were mid' -a man that has never touched a woman in his entire life."

Other women bemoaned how commentators on Doja Cat's body affected not just the artist, but also the average women reading and watching their vitriolic critiques.

"When [people] are body shaming Doja Cat for having saggy boobs but [yours] are down to [your] knees at 21," posted an observer named Carragh on TikTok, garnering 4.9 million views.

Other defenders called out how Doja Cat's nudes were described as "leaks," a term that denied her agency despite her openness about posing for the pictures and choosing to share them. The artist even teased nude photos over two years ago, tweeting in May 2020, "If Say So hits #1 I'll show you guys my boobs really hard."

Podcaster Victoria de Vall said in a tweet with 113,000 likes, "Men referring to Doja's naked pics as 'leaks'—when she posted them consensually—shows how addicted they are to sexuality through coercion, distorted dominance, assault, and control. It isn't a 'leak' if she posted it consensually, but you can only get off if she didn't."

Doja Cat has become embroiled in a range of internet controversies over the past year. This summer, she blasted Stranger Things actor Noah Schnapp for exposing private DMs about her crush on his colleague, Joseph Quinn. She also faced backlash for mocking Amber Heard's testimony on TikTok during the defamation trial brought by Johnny Depp.

Newsweek reached out to Doja Cat's representatives for comment.