ABOVE: Azealia Banks performing at Brixton Academy in London in 2012. (Photo by Tim Boddy, courtesy of Flickr)
In what might be described as a social media whirlwind over the last few days, controversial rapper Azealia Banks has apologized for one homophobic rant, before sending out a new one in a post that teased her retirement from music altogether.
It started in October, when the 28-year-old Banks posted a video on Instagram in which she called out queer singer Frank Ocean a “dumbass n****” for launching a club event called “PrEP+” and implied that gay men use the drug as an excuse for promiscuous behavior.
In an expletive-laced rant, she said, “Clearly I have a lot of gay male friends. Do not take that PrEP shit, okay? There’s no reason for you to need to have a fucking pill so you can just fuck whoever you want to fuck and just be all fucking nasty out there on the streets acting a fucking fool.”
After suggesting that Ocean was “getting paid by some white gay corporation to do this shit,” she went on too add, ““Y’all stay off that fucking PrEP. You don’t need to have everybody running up in your fucking asshole all day. If you got a sex addiction like that, that you need a fucking pill so you can go fuck and suck and do all that, then you need to go see a fucking psychiatrist.”
At the time, Banks was heavily criticized for the video by LGBTQ and straight social media commenters alike. Then last week, just before Thanksgiving, the rapper made another Instagram post saying she was sorry for her previous outburst.
“Hey guys, So…. a few weeks ago I went on a rant about Pre-exposure prophylaxis meds and I am just doubling back to say…… I’m sorry,” she posted. “It’s not my place. It was extremely insensitive. Who cares if I meant well, that wasn’t the way. I’m really really sorry.”
Her change of heart was short-lived, however. Over the weekend, Banks doubled down on her homophobia in another Instagram story in which she also made a dig at fellow rapper Iggy Azalea – with whom she has a long-standing feud – and seemed to be announcing her departure from music altogether.
The post read:
“Lol, I love the gays and love how much y’all love me but I really have to eject. I think you guys are into a lot of shit/people I just don’t find value in. I find myself acknowledging/looking at shit I’m leagues above and it really is such a set back lol… I really, truly, honestly could not give a fuck about any of the people y’all suggest for me to collab with/acknowledge and I only do in efforts to humor y’all.
“When so many of you are on here begging me to collab and acknowledge random people/artists it’s too distracting and I cannot keep going thru my art/journey with y’all in my face 24/7…
“I really can’t allow y’all to keep throwing me in the bucket with Iggys/Tinashes/random drag queens just because I’m female and you guys play Barbie dream house with the names and create this culture of shared data.
“And it’s true… even though I’m DEFINITELY better than all these little trash bitches y’all stans try to collaging in with me…paying attention to any of it even for a second, is another second spent away from what I NEED TO BE DOING.
“So gays…… I bid you adieu…. These last 8 years were fun…. But I have to pull a Shia LaBeouf and delete this thing. It’s clear that so many of these girls feed off my art, But when I’m doubling back to snatch crumbs out their mouths it stops my journey forward.
“I’m like a giant baking pies and eating cakes trying to fault mice for collecting crumbs. Gotta leave the crumbs on the floor and let the eco-system do what it does. Azealia Banks is leaving the forest so you tree ass bitches can fall in silence.
“Happy Holidays and Happy New Year. It’s been real.”
Though she has previously identified as bisexual, Banks has a long history of homophobic comments. A Google search for “Azealia Banks + homophobia” yields a list of incidents dating back several years.
She has also announced her retirement before. In June, she claimed to be stepping away from music in a post that said, “[I]T DOESNT MATTER HOW GOOD MY MUSIC IS I KNOW YOU GUYS DONT DESERVE IT. YOU WILL NEVER GET ANOTHER BODY OF AZEALIA BANKS WORK AGAIN. HEAR ME!?!,” two months before releasing a new project titled “YUNG RAPUNXEL PT II.”
In a similar display of consistency, the rapper posted yet another Instagram story on Dec. 2, this time saying, “Now I’m going back to LA to finish some music and just finish some videos. Prepare you bitches for another year of not being able to take Azealia Banks.”
