Overview

Doja Cat vs. Musty Shirt Fan or the Doja Cat, Pablo Tamayo Controversy refers to an online feud between rapper Doja Cat and a fan named Pablo Tamayo. In early June 2025, Tamayo posted a video of himself giving Doja his shirt and hugging her. Later that month, Doja posted two tweets calling Tamayo out, complaining about how he touched her and kissed her cheek and writing, "I threw that musty ass shirt away btw." In response, Tamayo posted a video apologizing if he overstepped boundaries and expressing confusion over the incident, claiming that Doja asked him for the shirt. The incident resulted in significant backlash towards Doja for mistreating her fans, which built off a larger theory that she hates her fans.

Background

On June 6th, 2025, TikToker^[1] @thisisntpablo, Pablo Tamayo, posted a video of an encounter he had with Doja Cat. In the video, Tamayo takes off his tank top, which reads "hot boys kiss boys," then gives it to Doja. She thanks him, he showers her in praise and then hugs her as she holds the shirt. They continue to talk, he hugs her again, compliments her and they kiss on the cheeks. Before the video ends, Doja says, "You smell great." The video gained over 18 million views in 10 days.

On June 13th, Doja Cat made and deleted two tweets. The first read, "I threw that musty ass shirt away btw." The second read, "bottom line is i'll smile at you but it doesn't mean I fuck w you and don't touch me and man handle me when you don't even fuckin know me. iykyk. I honestly think I need to stand up for myself in the moment sometimes. and he didn't even know my fuckin name to be touching me and kissing me on my face like that is crazy." The tweets were reposted by X^[2] user @NATERERUN on June 14th, garnering over 385,000 likes and 26,000 reposts in two days.

Developments

Pablo Tamayo's Responses

On June 14th, 2025, Pablo Tamayo posted a video to his TikTok^[3] (@thisisntpablo) responding to the situation. In the video, he claims he's a fan and calls her work amazing. He also stated that Doja pointed out his shirt at an event and expressed interest in owning it. When he saw her outside, he explained that it's from his Pride collection. He gave her the shirt, which is where the viral video began.

Tamayo then proceeds to apologize if he made her feel uncomfortable, continuing to praise her and wondering if she's calling him out for publicity. Again, he apologizes if he did anything wrong, says she was being sweet to him, and further expresses frustration over the incident. The video gained over 4 million views in two days.

Shortly after, Tamayo posted another video on TikTok^[4] in which he dances under the caption, "lol if im musty why'd you say I smell good," garnering over 4.7 million views in two days. Tamayo also began selling a shirt on his BigCartel^[5] site that reads "musty ass shirt."

Online Reactions

The incident inspired numerous reactions across social media in mid-June 2025, with many leveling criticism at Doja Cat for her treatment of the fan. Others defended Doja, suggesting Tamayo was capitalizing too much on the situation and that he wasn't a real fan and overstepped his boundaries with the way he acted in the video.

On June 14th, 2025, X^[6] user @YSLONIKA posted screenshots of Tamayo's "If I'm musty" video and of the shirt he's selling referencing the incident, writing, "oh it’s getting MESSY 😭," garnering over 149,000 likes in two days.

Later that same day, X^[7] user @SPICE2K posted, "the doja cat 'fan' at it again 😭😭," garnering over 25,000 likes in two days.

Also on June 14th, X^[8] user @adlrex made a post criticizing Tamayo, writing, "trying to profit off making a woman feel very uncomfortable is a choice," garnering over 112,000 likes in two days.

TikToker^[9] @thezetaylor then posted a video commenting on the situation that day, criticizing Doja for being rude and also lightly criticizing Tamayo for the way he acted, garnering over 1.6 million views in two days.

On June 15th, 2025, X^[10] user @aricantsingh posted two photos of Tamayo with other celebrities, writing, "literally who is this man," garnering over 86,000 likes in a day. Some commenters wondered if the whole situation is a publicity stunt for Doja.

Later that day, X^[11] user @m0dificationman posted a photo of Doja Cat wearing a Sam Hyde shirt, which inspired controversy in October 2023, writing, "but she wore this musty ass shirt…" garnering over 60,000 likes in a day.

Search Interest

External References