On today’s “Tamron Hall,” Da Bat and Jesseca “Judy” Dupart join the show for a daytime exclusive interview addressing the backlash they received during their search for a sperm donor. The couple spoke about the challenges associated with looking for a Black sperm donor and discussed the negative reaction they received after sharing their journey on their WEtv show “Brat Loves Judy.” The couple shared that, despite wanting a Black sperm donor, Judy has several genetic markers that made it impossible for her to find the right match from the limited pool of Black donors.
Da Brat discusses the challenges she and Judy faced when looking for the right sperm donor:
“So we never thought that that would be an issue at all. So we never worried about it. We were more worried about the whole IVF process where she had to get shots in her stomach in the beginning and take all these hormonal medicines and I had to give myself shots and she had to give me shots and then she ended up at the hospital with blood clots in her lungs once they retrieved their eggs. Then she had an enlarged heart. It’s just on and on like constant things and then I ended up having a miscarriage and I had polyps in my uterus. It was just so many different things. But we thought when we got to the donor part it would be a breeze, it would be easy. Yeah, there were thousands.”
Da Brat reflects on her comments about a potential sperm donor that sparked backlash:
“I didn’t think it would be offensive to anybody. I cracked jokes about almost everybody that I saw, that one just happened to make it in the show. I wasn’t trying to be mean or say anything negative about Black people. We were looking for Black donor. We’re Black, we wanted a Black donor. So it was just misconstrued and taken way out of context. Like I talked about quite a few people as we were looking for donors, but that’s the one that made it. I guess they thought it was funny and I didn’t think it would bother anybody or else I would have taken it out. I had no idea people were going to be so offended, but I meant no harm whatsoever. We wanted a Black donor, like, I was just like what? People take things and run with it. I’m like, what? People who know me know that I didn’t mean any harm. So if I offended anybody, I do apologize. But it was a joke between me and my wife and the doctor, like, we joke like that, we play around so it wasn’t meant to be offensive in any way.
Judy shares how and why she tried to shield Da Brat from criticism and insults on social media:
“I’m more on social than she is and there were things that I was really trying to avoid her from seeing. They had comments that said, ‘I just hope you guys miscarry.’ And I didn’t want her – I think I was more affected because I know she I know she’s uh, ‘You know, it don’t matter. I don’t care. I don’t care.’ But it was a lot of stuff and I’m there…I have a meeting at Walmart. I’m in the Walmart meeting trying to delete all these different comments because we shared a post and I know, if they’re coming on my page, they’re coming on her page. So I’m trying to delete a lot of stuff so she can’t see it on my page and she can’t see it on her page because it was extreme hate and I feel like I’m kind of used to some of it you know, from being on social media, but when it comes to our child, something that we work really, really hard for, I was in the hospital, like something we worked really, really hard for. I felt like. oh my god, if nothing else at this time, I feel like this should be at least an educational moment so our people aren’t as ignorant.”
