Azealia Banks banned from Twitter after racist attack

BANG! Showbiz

13 May, 2016 09:00 AM2 mins to read

American rapper Azealia Banks has been banned from Twitter.

Azealia Banks' Twitter account has been suspended following her racist rant against Zayn Malik.

The 24-year-old rapper can no longer tweet after moderators for the social networking website took her offline in the wake of her vile racist and homophobic rant, which she launched into after accusing Zayn of copying her style in his latest video Like I Would, accusing it of being a rip-off of her promo for Chasing Time.

Users who search for her Twitter handle "BRUJA DEL BLOQUE (@AZEALIABANKS)" got the message "Account Suspended. This account has been suspended. Learn more about why Twitter suspends accounts, or return to your timeline."

There has been no official statement from Twitter on the suspension but the terms of service for the website state: "When an account engages in abusive behaviour ... we may suspend it temporarily or, in some cases, permanently."

Breaches of conduct for the site include "hateful conduct" defined as "promoting violence against or directly attacking or threatening other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability or disease".

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".

Banks also described Malik's girlfriend Gigi Hadid as a "curry scented b***h". Photo / AP

She also described his girlfriend Gigi Hadid as a "curry scented b***h".

As well as being suspended from Twitter, Azealia has also been dropped from UK festival Rinse Born & Bred to be held in London in June

A statement from the festival said: "We have decided to cancel Azealia Banks' headline appearance at Rinse Born & Bred.

Rinse Born & Bred is a celebration of rave culture and has been created for EVERYONE. We celebrate inclusivity and equality."

Afterwards she blasted the London grime and rap scene, tweeting: "The UK really can't rap though. UK RAP is just a disgrace to rap culture in general. UK rappers NEVER have swag. It's ALWAYS FORCED (sic)"