A Look at Black Men’s Hypocritical Obsession With Daphne Joy

If you’ve spent any time on certain parts of the internet lately, then you may have seen the recent chatter about how model Daphne Joy (who shares a child with 50 Cent and was allegedly hired for sex work by Sean “Diddy” Combs) went viral for not one, but two new interviews. And while what she had to say is interesting, it’s the reaction to her words and demeanor from certain Black men that’s really worth talking about.

Joy’s interviews come on the heels of a leaked sex tape that made the rounds on social media, showing her engaging in sexual activity with Combs. In the immediate aftermath, she spoke out against the tape’s release with a lengthy statement. However, she mysteriously removed the statement shortly after it was posted.

Joy then popped up on DJ Akademik’s livestream for a (flirty) conversation and later on Cam Newton’s “Funky Friday” podcast, where she talked about how she was coping since the tape’s release, her lifestyle, her dating history with Diddy, and her sexual preferences.

RELATED: Daphne Joy Claps Back at 50 Cent, Accuses Him of Something Horrible

But what was perhaps more interesting was the number of Black men praising her in the comments section for her soft-spoken nature, her flirty vibes, and her seductive mannerisms.

“Oh she’s a pro, even her mannerisms. Covering her mouth as shit giggles, the looking down while talking then looking up at you…she definitely know what she doing. That’s Elite work right there,” said one user on X/Twitter.

“Women need to take note, this is what we like,” wrote another.

One other person wrote in part: “Yeah, she’s great at what she does.”

Added another, “She needs to give a class on how hoes should carry themselves. That young Miami sh*t not gettin you nowhere unless you Miami.”

Seeing all the positive spins from Black men prompted several people to hop online and question why women who look like Joy (who is Filipino-American) were being pedestaled for behaving in a way that’s seductive and alluring to men (when it’s clear they have ulterior motives)—while Black women who may operate in the same way are demeaned and viewed as less than.

TikTok User Reviews With Kay broke down some of the flaws in the logic, particularly when it came to DJ Akademiks’ argument that Joy got the better end of the bargain in her relationship with Diddy compared to his ex-girlfriend and rapper Yung Miami (real name Caresha Brownlee).

Kay argued that while Joy was subjected to doing sex work to maintain her lifestyle, the Bad Boy Records founder barely paid her rent, Diddy actually upgraded Miami’s life – thanks to him bringing her to events like the Met Gala and giving her the resources to create her own platform and subsequent deals.

“You sound crazy as hell if you want me to think that Caresha is not the blueprint and this girl [Joy] is when, if the whole point in bagging the billionaire is to be elevated. According to your same calculations, the point in bagging the billionaire is to become elevated, which Yung Miami has become elevated. This woman has a career, she has music, she has a show, she has a game, she has a podcast, she has a whole life! So no, we’re not following that lady [Joy] because she talks like that. That sh*t is not getting the bills paid.”

User DanaD echoed similar sentiments, saying that uplifting Joy while labeling Black women as “hoes” for exhibiting the same behaviors exposes some Black men as liars, gaslighters, and colorists. She also argued that those men allow other races of women to get away with the same things that they’d demonize Black women for doing, all because of desirability politics.

She later went out to point out the double standard those Black men have in how they talk down about Black women like Megan Thee Stallion and Lori Harvey for their perceived “hoe-like” behavior, versus how positively they view Joy, despite her history of sex work.

However, it’s not just women making this argument, with one Black man writing on X/Twitter: “Goofball ni**as like Akademiks will show a woman like this (an actual hoe) so much respect cuz he’s thirsty for a pretty girl to talk to him but sit in his basement dragging Megan[thee Stallion] for no reason.”

Another man wrote, “Men will drag women they perceive as hoes because they freely speak about sex and their body, but an actual hoe gets the utmost respect from these ni**as; it’s interesting; don’t ever let these men say they don’t like hoes cuz that’s always gonna be a fu*ing lie.”

In contrast, user Everybody Hates Krissy was in the minority and praised Joy for doing what she had to do in order to secure her bag, even if that meant taking advantage of a sexually irresponsible or sexually deviant man.

“I’m not mad at Daphne Joy; she’s doing what she’s supposed to do: get money from these fools. They don’t wanna keep it anyway,” she said.