Azealia Banks has embarked on one of her now-regular social media meltdowns, kicking off at Boomtown Festival and claiming that its organisers were forcing her to express public support for Palestine. She’s also beefing with London's Maiden Voyage festival on the same grounds.
In a rant on X she said that she was cancelling her appearances at both events, claiming that they “have been stressing me out for weeks trying to force me to say free Palestine and threatening to cut me from the bill because I won’t say free Palestine”, adding that she did not want to be “dealing with the threats” and “I’m not putting on a fucking hijab”.
Although the specifics of the dispute aren’t yet clear, it seems that the two festivals weren’t actually asking Banks to say “free Palestine”, just to not say “fuck Palestine”. Earlier this month she posted a link to a track currently listed on SoundCloud as ‘The Softest Place On Earth'’, but which she announced with the tweet “I made a song called ‘Fuck Palestine’”.
Earlier today Bank shared an email from an agent which explained that that post - and other similar online comments - meant that the two festivals were under “spiralling pressure” from campaign groups - but also other artists and sponsors involved in the events - to remove her from their line-ups.
The agent’s email then explained, “Both festivals have implied that were you to walk back or put properly into context some of your recent posts it could change this dynamic and relieve the pressure”. That might involve “a statement from you on X that you do care about civilians, women and children being murdered”.
Banks did actually clarify on X last night that “I’m not saying fuck actual Palestine”, but she quickly followed that by stating, “fuck your dumb ass slogans and performative bullshit. Y’all wanna make a stance so bad but stand for absolutely nothing. As soon as the media says pedophilia is “natural and normal. You bitches will be right there talking about #PEDOPHILERIGHTS”.
Which, obviously, won’t have placated anyone. “Now comes the lawsuit” added Banks on X this morning.
Both festivals have confirmed Banks is no longer on their respective line-ups, while Boomtown has also insisted that it “does not and will never dictate the personal views and beliefs of performers”
The festivals sector has become quite political in recent years, particularly in the context of the conflict in Gaza. There have been various campaigns urging artists and ticket-buyers to boycott specific events because their owners or sponsors have ties to Israel.
Meanwhile, the use of festival stages by some artists - most notably Kneecap of course - to express support for the Palestinian cause, sometimes in very strong terms, has also caused controversy. Resulting in campaigns from other quarters calling on festivals to remove these acts from their line-ups.
All of which has created some new challenges for festival promoters, most of whom would rather stay out of politics, while seeking to provide a safe space for all festival-goers, and championing the free speech of performers. Though some have put out statements expressing support for the Palestinian people and/or criticising investors and sponsors with links to the Israeli military.
Banks, of course, is no stranger to controversy, having sparked outrage at various points in the past with her forthright views. Whether this particular spat will actually result in legal action we will see.
Probably not - or may be we’ll get a number of lawsuits. Earlier today she said she would use the discovery phase of any legal action to identify which artists and sponsors had put pressure on Boomtown and Maiden Voyage so she can sue them too.