Azealia Banks apologizes for rant
Azealia Banks has apologized over her racist tirade against Zayn Malik.
The 24-year-old rapper had her Twitter account suspended and was dropped from appearing at a London festival this week in the wake of her vile racist and homophobic rant, which she launched into after accusing the former One Direction singer of copying her style in his latest video ‘Like I Would’, accusing it of being a rip-off of her promo for ‘Chasing Time’.
Though Azealia – who also lashed out at 14-year-old Disney actress Skai Jackson – initially offered "apologies to anyone who was offended" by her comments, she previously maintained she was "not sorry" for the words she used, but she has now backtracked and given her "deepest apologies" for her ranting.
In an open letter on her Instagram page, she wrote: "Dear World. Now that the immediacy of the infamous incident has worn off, I’ve had some time to decompress & take a more rational assessment of things".
"I want to extend my sincerest apologies to the world.
"Employing racial/sexual slurs/stereotypes in attempts to make fun of or degrade another person or group is absolutely unacceptable and is not fair or fun for anyone.
"Allowing my anger to get the best of me, I’ve managed to insult millions of people without reason. And for that I give my deepest apologies."
In a later post, Azealia insisted some of her remarks were just "bad jokes" and she hadn’t been "thinking that deeply/cleverly".
She also said she wanted to "clear the air" with curry, having branded Zayn a "curry-scented b***h" during her tirade.
She wrote: "And as for curry, it’s honestly some dumb nyc joke about cabs smelling like curry. I honestly wasn’t trying to make a widespread statement about any group so much as just pulling out of my very limited bag of NYC insults. My mind didn’t even go there when it came out of my mouth.
"I personally really enjoy curry and cook with it often.
"I feel compelled to clear the air with curry itself because that’s a bridge I don’t want to burn. I still want to be able to enjoy it freely without guilt or judgment. (BTW, black peoples traditionally cook with curry too…. Just saying).(sic)"
Among the most hateful insults she tweeted to 23-year-old Zayn – who was born in Britain to a Pakistani father and English/Irish mother – were to brand him the "token brown boy" in One Direction and the other four members’ "pet".
She went on to target Skai after she told the rapper to "simmer down" and told the young actress to have plastic surgery and "grow some hips and start your menses".
Following the backlash, the ‘212’ hitmaker made an apology for causing offence.
She said: "Big apologies to anyone who was offended by any of the things I said. Not sorry I said it. But sorry for the way I made people feel.
"Everyone except the targets of my tirades."
