Da Brat’s wife Jesseca Harris-Dupart has responded to criticism she received after the couple revealed they selected a white sperm donor for their pregnancy.
In an interview with The Root published last week, the couple said they had a shortlist of 300 potential donors and only one of them was Black. "That [dude] looked like Jiminy Cricket,” Brat told the publication. “I was like, “I’m sorry but that wasn’t gonna be my choice. ... But I think we did a great job with picking. He’s handsome, he’s tall and I think he’s going to look beautiful with my wife’s egg.”
The quote sparked a reaction from fans, who considered the “Jiminy Cricket” comparison offensive. In a post shared on Instagram, Dupart said that genetic testing already limits the options for donations, and on top of that she said Black men only make up “five percent or less” of sperm donors in the United States. In the caption for the post, she went into the situation further, and said that the joke her wife made was “distasteful.”
"1) WE HAD NO IDEA GOING INTO THIS THAT our chances of a Black donor would be slim to none,” she wrote in the caption. “2) that I was a carrier of so many disorders 3) that our window was SOOOO slim and such high risk cus of age and more 4) with my genetic testing I’m the carrier of 4 disorders , that reduced our chances of a Black donor down to 1 person and that 1 person had very limited info / portfolio to judge on ….. including BACKGROUND."
Back in February, Da Brat announced that she’s pregnant and expecting her first child with Harris-Dupart. “It’s been quite a journey,” Da Brat, who is 49, said. "There’s a lot of stuff we learned about women over the age of 40.” They married last year in a ceremony held in Fairburn, Georgia.
