Only two weeks shy of 25, New York rapper Azealia Banks has become a social-media sensation for what many consider racist tweets — all while backing Donald Trump.
The Atlantic magazine, which profiled her as an anarchist in March, added this week: “She’s flung hate speech at nearly every identity group imaginable, with her latest flare-up slurring the singer Zayn Malik for being Pakistani and the actress Skai Jackson for being young. This time, the results are that she’s been dropped from a U.K. music festival and — this is big, though possibly coincidentally timed — suspended from Twitter.”
The Guardian newspaper gave background:
“After Banks accused Malik of copying a music video of hers for his single Like I Would, Malik tweeted ‘My @’s too good for you’ – a reference to the fact that Banks had not directed the accusation at his account for him to see.
“In response, Banks struck out directly at Malik on Twitter, using a number of both homophobic and racial slurs. However, attacking Malik disturbed the buzzing hornets nest of One Direction fans on Twitter, who quickly swarmed to his defense.”
She has defenders, of course, including Carol Hood of the female-centric The Establishment, who noted on Friday:
“Azealia Banks’ tweets are absolutely chaotic. She may have had it right when it came to all things Iggy Azalea. She may have had it right when she called for reparations. But in the end, no matter how much fans of her music coaxed her to drop her strange antics — defending Bill Cosby, tossing around homophobic slurs while claiming it’s okay because she’s bisexual —Banks seemed determined to burn her own fledgling career to the ground.”
“We were rooting for you! We were all rooting for you! But the incredibly- talented-yet-shameful-24-year-old-rapper from Harlem just cannot get it together, resulting in her Twitter demise.
“And yet, I cannot help but wonder, of all the threats and verbal abuse that routinely happen on social media, which are usually touted as falling under the protection of ‘free speech,’ why act on this one?”
Many agreed.
We can think of at least dozens of users who deserve to get kicked off Twitter more than Azealia Banks https://t.co/qKjEkejvec
— Salon.com (@Salon) May 13, 2016
Man chill out on Azealia Banks tho idk about yah but mami is hilarious and people are so sensitive calm down @BRUJADELBANKS
— BlueJon (@itsbluejon) May 13, 2016
Why do we care more about Azealia Banks directing racial slurs at Zayn Malik than drone strikes in the Middle East;
— Write About Now (@wanpoetry) May 13, 2016
When #AzealiaBanks gets Twitter banned but @realDonaldTrump is still alive and tweeting. pic.twitter.com/Jf0GKpxE4C
— Davon Magwood (@davonmagwood) May 13, 2016
nothing Azealia Banks said about Iggy or white people in general was wrong, racist, or uncalled for.
— Ri¢h (@RicheyCollazo) May 13, 2016
#AzealiaBanks when she found out that @Twitter suspended her account pic.twitter.com/bqpN1XKtQc
— Fagsy Malone (@FagsyMalone) May 12, 2016
.@SkaiJackson explains why she had to shut Azealia Banks down: https://t.co/vV4aNCW3DK pic.twitter.com/qdNUwsIRhQ
— Teen Vogue (@TeenVogue) May 13, 2016
#AzealiaBanks takes her rants to Instagram after getting her Twitter account suspended! https://t.co/yQ6lRNkHlr pic.twitter.com/K9FDNBvFbj
— Perez Hilton (@PerezHilton) May 13, 2016
.@Twitter suspends @azealiabanks but said that explicit call for me to be "exterminated" was fine use of its service pic.twitter.com/A9wssTKyVb
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) May 13, 2016
Fanatical Zionists say far worse every day than @AZEALIABANKS and Twitter routinely tells me there's no violation. https://t.co/gvDzuRhsjq
— Ali Abunimah (@AliAbunimah) May 13, 2016
Twitter's suspension of Azealia Banks clearly a sign they'll protect non famous users from racist, homophobic abuse. pic.twitter.com/B8CKPSsp8e
— Mary Beth Williams (@embeedub) May 13, 2016
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