By now, it’s safe to say, rapper Azealia Banks’ Twitter presence has firmly overshadowed her musical output. Her provocative social media rants have gradually become more offensive and intolerant. She has repeatedly invited controversy, and now she’s paying the price. As of Thursday, it seems that Ms Banks is no longer on Twitter, and no one seems happier than the site’s large user base.
As news of her suspension from the platform spread, a celebratory hashtag was born– #AzealiaGotSuspendedParty has now been tweeted more than 57,000 times. This isn’t the first time this week a hashtag has been used in regards to Banks. Just a couple of days earlier, after Banks’ high-profile, prejudiced rant against Zayn Malik, a portion of Twitter’s user base appropriated a racist slur used by Banks, spinning it into a hashtag with which to take her to task.
It seems that her bigoted tweets directed at Malik resulted in her social media demise. The ex-One Direction member’s loyal fan base often leaps to his defense online. Once those Directioners band together, there’s no internet celebrity they can’t destroy. Although the specifics behind Banks removal from Twitter remain unclear, it may well have been due to a coordinated attack by Malik’s loyal followers — not to mention, everyone else outraged by her comments.
The past week, like so many other weeks in the life of Banks, has been a turbulent one. This time around, her Twitter outbursts — including two simultaneous Twitter feuds — have resulted in real-life consequences. Earlier this week, she was dropped from the lineup of a British music festival and now she’s been booted off her favorite online soapbox.
To summarize, it all started when she called out Malik for allegedly copying visuals from her music video in his latest clip. His response, or lack thereof, consisted of a cryptic tweet stating he did not want to address the person attacking him. That set off Banks, who began throwing her usual barrage of racist insults his way. Thousands of Twitter users subsequently attempted to counteract Banks, including 14-year-old Disney star Skai Jackson. Not one to resist a public feud, Banks continued unleashing ugly insults at her detractors, her feed descending into a chaotic mess of bigoted tweets. And now, just a few days later, she’s vanished.
It’s been a long, slow, very public fall from grace for the young rapper. When she first appeared on the music scene, Banks was a force to be reckoned with, garnering acclaim and a minor hit (in the form of her electro-tinged debut single, 212).
Back then, no one could have predicted how things would turn out for Banks. Over the years, any indie cred she may have collected was firmly laid to rest by her online, and offline, antics. Her behavior went from unhinged to downright offensive, and now even her most ardent supporters can no longer defend her.
As always, in her own defense, Banks paints herself out to be some sort of crusader against racism. In a recent statement, she claimed that she was merely pointing out Malik’s position as the “other” due to her own experiences in the pop industry. Once again, she has failed to articulate those opinions in a manner suited to a public forum.
