Azealia Banks Offers ‘Deepest Apologies’ For Insulting ‘Millions Of People Without Reason’

A day after Azealia Banks penned an essay about black mental health on Instagram, the Harlem rapper has issued an apology following her recent racist and homophobic comments about pop star Zayn Malik. Her hate speech resulted in Twitter suspending her account, and she was dropped as the headliner of London’s Rinse Born & Bred Festival. While the Twitter-verse celebrated her suspension via the hashtag #AzealiaBanksSuspendedParty, Banks has been posting on Instagram, claiming that she is the victim of white supremacy.

Fader notes that her hours-long rant against Malik was sparked by his new “Like I Would” music video, which she believes is a rip off of her own previous videos and style. Now that her career is feeling the sting of her vitriol, the controversial artist believes the world is owed an apology.

“Now that the immediacy of the infamous incident has worn off, I’ve had sometime to decompress & take a more rational assessment of things. I want to extend my sincerest apologies to the world,” Banks wrote on Instagram.

“Employing racial/sexist slurs/stereotypes in attempt to make fun of or degrade another person or group is absolutely unacceptable and is not fair or fun for anyone,” she continued. “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.”

Here’s her full statement:

Azealia’s ruthless tongue resulted in her being dropped by U.K. booking agent Primary Talent International. NME notes that her name has been removed from the agency’s roster on their website, and her artist page displays an error message. The agency has not yet confirmed that they have parted ways with Banks.

In the original Twitter posts, which were deleted before her account was suspended, Banks referred to Malik as a “curry scented b**ch”, “sand ni**a”, “fa**ot” and “paki,” among other insults. She also called his mother “a dirty refugee who won’t be granted asylum.”

When Disney star Skai Jackson told Banks to “simmer down” on Twitter, the “Ice Princess” rapper told the teen to “grow some hips,” and that her mother is “pimping” her out to Hollywood. She also reminded Jackson that Disney doesn’t like “girls your color.”

Skai Jackson, 14-year-old Disney star, explains why she had to drag Azealia Banks on Twitter https://t.co/CYLavdoNBZ pic.twitter.com/MFAkbfHlhS

— Global Grind (@GlobalGrind) May 14, 2016

Following her Twitter suspension, Azealia penned an essay regarding the effect of white privilege on the black psyche in the music industry. In a series of Instagram posts, she described her experiences with verbally abusive black males in particular.

The Fader shared parts of Banks’ essay, in which she stated:

“From the minute I appeared on the scene I was told by black men in black media that I was ugly, skinny, had bad hair, was weird, made music for white people etc… And those messages penetrated the social consciousness of black America very quickly. I’ve been belittled, berated, stolen from, called crazy when making clear and true observations about the world we live in only to then have all of those things reveal themselves to be truths. I’m not blaming anyone or anything for any of my actions, but I think it’s really important to for people outside of us (black folk) to understand the detrimental effects of whiteness and white supremacy/white cultural pervasiveness on black peoples MENTAL HEALTH as a whole and the MENTAL HEALTH of black individual herself.”

You can read her two-part Instagram posts of the essay here and here.

Azealia Banks penned a lengthy Instagram post about “black people’s mental health.” https://t.co/6P4r7fPOzA

— Complex (@ComplexMag) May 14, 2016

Banks has developed a reputation for beefing with celebrities on social media, including Iggy Azalea, Erykah Badu, and Hillary Clinton. Most recently, she accused Beyoncé of trying to be a convincing white woman, and she advised the singer to “stay under Jay-Z’s foot.”

Back in 2013, Banks was called out by GLAAD for her homophobic slurs against blogger Perez Hilton. She initially seemed indifferent to calling him “a messy fa**ot,” and responded to her critics on social media by writing, “Really not as moved by this ‘f word’ thing as u all want me to be. I meant what I meant.” She did, however, apologize, “My most sincere apologies to anyone who was indirectly offended by my foul language,” she wrote.

Azealia Banks’ Twitter account remains suspended, and should it get reinstated, many doubt she has learned a lesson. In her recent apology, she explained that the reason she called Zayn a racial slur was because she wanted to “angrily remind him that he is in fact not one of them, he is one of US,” and added that “the white privileges he’s so eager to take part in do not apply to him.”

[Photo by Robert Altman/Invision/AP Images]