Flaunt Weeekly
Rapper Azealia Banks has been removed from the lineup of an electronic music festival in Amsterdam only two days after organisers announced her involvement.
Milkshake Festival organisers announced that Banks was headlining their July festival on February 4, only to be met with a number of fans in the comments encouraging them to reconsider.
The next day, Milkshake reassured fans that their concerns were being heardwriting in a statement on Instagram that they “strive to be a place where everyone, and especially the most vulnerable and historically marginalized among us, feel free to express themselves.”
“We strive to pay homage to the roots of club culture, a community that has always been at the forefront in fighting for equality,” they said.
“We have reached out to the management of Azealia Banks to get a clear statement. Please allow us some time to manage this situation.”
An update was posted only 24 hours later, rescinding the decision to have Banks headline.
“It is clear to us that we made a mistake and that we have overlooked essential information. We sincerely apologize for this. In correction of our previous update: this statement reflects only our standpoints as an organization, not that of Azealia Banks’ management.”
“The safety of our visitors, our team, the artists, and crew will always be our main priority.”
Banks’ controversial social media behaviour
While some fans thanked the Milkshake organisers, others criticised the festival for giving in to the backlash, citing misogynoir
“Wow I want to see this energy when white problematic artists perform…” one commenter wrote.
“Not the gays talking about community babies the only community you only care about is your circuit one. So drop the performative activism and stop being misogynistic against a black woman to perform that indeed has a strong impact on QUEER community,” said another.
Banks, although openly bisexual, has a long history of publicly making homophobic and transphobic comments. In 2015, she was filmed calling a flight attendant a slur, and later that same year compared the LGBTQIA+ community to the “gay white KKK’s”.
She’s also repeatedly criticised the transgender community, arguing that gender-affirming surgery are essentially cosmetic procedures, and saying that trans women are “just gay boys on hormones using male aggression to force their ways into women’s spaces.”
However, just this month she called out notorious anti-trans activist, JK Rowling, on X, writing “I think the dolls are fab and do not need to shade them or change myself because my femininity is not threatened by them.
“All of the insane anti-trans paranoid people like @jk_rowling feel their femininity is threatened for whatever reason and try to mask that insecurity with ‘science’ like anyone is stupid and doesn’t already know these things.”
Replying to a fan who voiced their disappointment at Banks’ festival cancellation, the singer said, “damn I’m sorry babe I dunno what to do. I’ll still come to Amsterdam that evening – I’ll see about performing a venue that night.”
Banks is still scheduled to perform at other upcoming festivals, including Maiden Voyage Festival in London.
