Azealia Banks Criticized By GLAAD For Gay Slur Tweet To Perez Hilton
Rapper Azealia Banks must not be a very socially aware individual, or she would have realized that calling an openly gay man a “messy faggot” on Twitter would have resulted in some pretty bad press. GLAAD has criticized Banks for the gay slur, which was originally directed at celebrity blogger Perez Hilton.
A quick re-cap: Rolling Stone reports that Banks was engaged in a tense Twitter beef with up-and-comer Angel Haze this weekend, and somewhere along the line Perez Hilton and homophobia entered the fray. The two went back and forth with diss tracks on Friday and Saturday, with Hilton joining the fight and taking Haze’s side.
Banks responded: “lol what a messy faggot you are,” to Hilton. Then came the damage control. “A faggot is not a homosexual male. A faggot is any male who acts like a female. There’s a BIG difference,” she explained. Then she said that the term “faggot” doesn’t actually mean what you think it means, at least when she says it, and that it’s a term of endearment, or something: “When I said acts like a female I should’ve said acts like a c**t.”
By Saturday afternoon, Banks had moved on from the whole controversy. “Really not as moved by this f word thing as u all want me to be,” she tweeted. “As a bisexual person I knew what I meant when I used that word.”
Fast-forward to the present. No one is buying Banks’ explanation. Gay singer Jake Shears criticized her use of the gay slur on his own Twitter account:
It all about context. And right now, I’m sorry, but context is not on your side.
— Jake Shears (@Jakeshears) January 5, 2013
Donna Summer was ostracized for a decade from words she used about her gay fans. Too bad she didn’t have twitter to recant them immediately.
— Jake Shears (@Jakeshears) January 5, 2013
NME reports that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation group (GLAAD) has also criticized Banks for her homophobic attack on Hilton. Their statement, published on their website, reads:
“Banks’ claim that the word “faggot” doesn’t mean a gay male is not true. Regardless of her intent or her personal definition, what matters is the meaning given to that word by those who hear it, and the damage it causes when they do.”
“Undoubtedly there are gay kids who follow her on Twitter who hear this word in an entirely different context. This word is used almost universally by bullies, often as part of a larger verbal or physical assault. This word hurts those kids, no matter what Banks meant by it.”
What do you think? Did Azealia Banks wiggle through a context loophole regarding her use of the word “faggot,” or are Perez Hilton, Jake Shears, and GLAAD righteously angry in this case?
