Who Is Johnny Utah? Everything To Know About Doja Cat's Ex-Boyfriend
She made the first move.
getty images In case you don't know who Doja Cat is, she's a "social media famous" rapper who is best known for her songs "Moo" and "Juicy."
Amalaratna Zandile Dlamini is the full name of the artist we know as Doja Cat. Her father is the South African actor, director, and film composer Dumisani Dlamini, who is best known for his work in the hit film Sarafina.
Though she's only become really "famous" recently, thanks to her popularity on social media, she was actually signed to RCA Records back in 2013, and her hit song, "So High," was featured on the television show Empire. Needless to say, she's been around for a hot minute.
Although her rise to stardom happened only a few years back in 2018, the 24-year-old has already had her fair share of controversy. She's been "cancelled" twice, with the second instance just recently happening.
However, the rapper's controversies aren't the only things that have people talking about her — her love life has also made headlines.
Who is Johnny Utah, Doja Cat's ex-boyfriend?
Doja Cat had been dating indie artist Johnny Utah for awhile before they parted ways earlier this year.
Who is Doja Cat's ex-boyfriend? Here are all the details to know about Utah and his former relationship with Doja Cat.
They met through YouTube.
Doja Cat and Johnny Utah met in a totally 21st century fashion. Doja Cat went to Utah's YouTube page and checked out one of his videos.
She said that even though she hated his music, she loved his pants, so she wrote "baby I love you" in the comments section of his Instagram page. He wrote back and said that he told his brother they were a couple, and "don't make me look like a liar."
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Utah is an indie musician.
Utah is a musician who specializes in what he calls "Indie-Funk." His breakthrough single is called "Honeypie."
He was a nursing student.
Utah reportedly used to be a nursing student who went by the "regular" name of Jacob Sullenger. However, he abandoned his dream of being a nurse when he discovered music, and adopted the name "Johnny Utah" after the character in the movie, Point Break, starring Keanu Reeves and the late, great Patrick Swayze.
Utah has his own unique sound.
"With a fierce falsetto, funky guitar riffs, homemade lo-fi beats, and catchy hooks, Utah established himself in the indie scene with his own brand of bedroom pop. From the comfort of his apartment studio with his own equipment, the singer-songwriter has produced songs like 'Honeypie' and 'PATTY,' one website described him as.
Doja Cat was first 'cancelled' in 2018.
Doja Cat became the victim of "cancel culture" when it was revealed that she used homophobic slurs back in 2015. She even used the slurs against members of Odd Future, and got a "call out" tweet from Debra Messing.
Even though Doja Cat had been cancelled, Utah continued to stand by her, and still posted loving photos in support of her and her career.
Utah and Doja Cat split in February 2020.
In an Instagram live video earlier this year, Doja Cat confirmed that she and Utah had gone their separate ways.
She assured her fans that their split was amicable, saying in her video, "Everything is okay. I unfollowed my ex-boyfriend and everything is okay. We have been cool. Nothing weird going on. No drama, or weird s*** going on. S*** just didn't work out."
She was recently cancelled — again!
Rceently, videos that allegedly showed the rapper taking part in racist Internet chat rooms began making the rounds on social media. In addition, a lyric from one of her scrapped songs that reportedly included a racial slur also began to circulate.
Doja Cat then took to Instagram to issue a few apologies, saying:
"I've used public chatrooms to socialize since I was a child. I shouldn't have been on some of those chatroom sites, but I personally have never been involved in any racist conversations. I'm a black woman. Half of my family is black from South Africa and I'm very proud of where I come from.
The chatroom that I go to is a public chatroom. It's me and my friends, you go in there... I learned that there are racist people who come in and out of the chat. They're there. They happen, and then they're banned. The idea that this chatroom is a white supremacist chatroom is... I don't understand it in any way. Not even."
In regards to the supposed song lyric, she responded, "It was written in response to people who often used that term to hurt me. I made an attempt to flip its meaning, but recognize it was a bad decision to use that term in my music.
To see something like that, to see a song, my song that I made, connected to an innocent black woman's death is one of the most awful rumors that I've ever encountered. I'm determined to show that to everyone moving forward. Thank you."
The rapper clarified that the song was in no way connected to police brutality or Sandra Bland, an African-American woman who died in police custody a few years ago, and whom many assumed the song was referring to.
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series.
Editor's Note: This article was originally posted on November 2019 and was updated with the latest information.