Metro Weekly

Azealia Banks: Gays are ‘appropriating horse culture’ with ketamine and harnesses

Controversial rapper targets gay community for mockery after people criticized her religious beliefs

Azealia banks, gay, horse culture, rapper
Azealia Banks – Photo: Fiver, via Wikimedia Commons

Rapper Azealia Banks has once again found herself mired in yet another controversy anti-gay remarks she’s made on social media.

Banks, who has become as known for her Twitter feuds as she has for her music, posted a meme accusing gay people of “appropriating horse culture.”

The rapper has sparred with critics on social media who criticized a photo she posted of herself covered in blood last week. She said that the picture was part of her religious practice, in which she worships the goddess Yemayá, the patron spirit of motherhood and rivers in the Yoruba religion.

Banks was offended at those criticizing her spirituality and her religious practice, writing on Facebook: “I am not mentally ill. I am highly spiritual and devoted to Yemayá. That same Mermaid you beg to bring forth music and enjoyment for you, you denigrate and vilify. Why do I have to hide who I am? Why am I not allowed to be free? Why not simply ask questions and learn? Why insinuate that I need to be medicated for something you simply do not understand? Just ask. I’ve been very open about this for years. Just ask.”

But criticism of the 29-year-old artist wouldn’t cease, causing her to lash out with a meme saying that gay people are “appropriating horse culture” by delving into several stereotypes, including that gay men wear harnesses, and use ketamine — which is used an anesthetic for horses — recreationally, as well as making fun of their use of lube for sex. 

“Mainstream gay culture in a nutshell, yet y’all have the nerve to tell ME — THE HERBAL PLANT BASED GODDESS — that I need medication for believing in my goddess. THE HILARITY,” she wrote. “Don’t fuck with me bitches. We can do this culture war all day and I promise you that I will win. Goodnight.”

The post upset several Facebook users, including some who claimed they stopped following Banks because of its content.

One user wrote: “Clearly you are not a gay man and are misrepresenting a subculture. As a gay man, I find this absolutely offensive. But I don’t hold hate for you, it indicates to me that you are upset and are in pain. I’m sorry you feel that way.”

Another wrote: “Still treating homophobia like a personality trait in 2020? Haven’t grown up even a little bit yet? Hate that for you, luv.”

“You’re attacking what’s left of your own fan base?” asked a third user. “Lol.”

See also: Azealia Banks accuses RuPaul of plagiarizing her music in “Call Me Mother”

This is not the first time that Banks, who is openly bisexual, has vented her spleen at some in the LGBTQ community. In 2015, she was filmed calling a flight attendant a “fucking faggot,” and, in 2016, was banned from Twitter for making racist and homophobic comments about One Direction singer Zayn Malik.

In October 2019, she went on a rant about pre-exposure prophylaxis, calling it a “death trap,” according to the Star-Observer.

“There’s no reason for you to need to have a fucking pill so you can just fuck whoever you want to fuck and just be all fucking nasty out there on the streets acting a fucking fool,” she wrote on Instagram. “The boys are still getting HIV, the girls are getting fucking renal failure, they’re getting liver fucking failure, they’re getting anal warts, they’re getting anal cancer, OK?

“You don’t need to have everybody running up in your fucking asshole all day. If you got a sex addiction like that, that you need a fucking pill so you can go fuck and suck and do all that, then you need to go see a fucking psychiatrist.”

She later apologized for the remarks, but two months later, bid her gay fans “adieu” in another Instagram post, writing: “I love the gays and love how much y’all love me, but I really have to eject.” She claimed that gay people “are into a lot of shit” and “people I just don’t find value in.”

Read more:

Catholic school issues book to gay teens telling them to ‘discover richness of the opposite sex’

Tucker Carlson brands trans kids ‘disturbing’ and a ‘nationwide epidemic’

Gay adult film star Billy Santoro evicted after loud ‘meet and greets’ in apartment

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