{"id":34759,"date":"2021-09-13T18:25:41","date_gmt":"2021-09-13T18:25:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?post_type=articles&p=34759"},"modified":"2021-09-13T22:11:07","modified_gmt":"2021-09-13T22:11:07","slug":"azealia-banks-comeback","status":"publish","type":"articles","link":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/","title":{"rendered":"Queers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019 Comeback"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Azealia
Azealia Banks (Photo: Isaiah Trickey\/FilmMagic)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Azealia Banks<\/a> is attempting a comeback. Or, depending on who you ask, maybe she\u2019s just doing what artists do: releasing new music<\/a>, playing shows<\/a>, doing some press<\/a>. Also, this year marks the 10th anniversary of her breakthrough single, \u201c212<\/a>,\u201d so there\u2019s that. But because it\u2019s Azealia Banks\u2014a performer known as much for her Twitter feuds, offensive comments, erratic behavior and mental health struggles as she is for her music\u2014it feels like a comeback. Or maybe it just feels like a comeback is necessary<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The gays in particular seem to be living for Banks\u2019 current moment. Which is odd given her complicated<\/a> relationship to the LGBTQ+ community. Banks identifies as bisexual and has aligned herself with the ballroom community. She\u2019s also notorious for lobbing<\/a> antigay slurs and transphobic<\/a> rhetoric at people with whom she\u2019s feuded. And as recently as this February of this year, she compared gender confirmation surgery to castration in an Instagram comment<\/a>. In June, just as Pride month was ending, she posted a video message<\/a> on Instagram in which she tearfully thanked her LGBTQ fans for all the love and support they\u2019ve shown her over the years, tacking on an \u201cI\u2019m sorry\u201d at the end\u2014though she didn\u2019t specify what she was sorry for or why.<\/p>\n

Then, last week, the organizers of Brooklyn\u2019s Bushwig<\/a> announced that Banks would be performing<\/a> Saturday night for the influential drag festival\u2019s 10th anniversary\u2014the same week that she targeted Kim Petras with transphobic and fatphobic<\/a> comments on Instagram. Notably, Bushwig was founded and continues to be run by trans and Latinx performers. With no major backlash to the news\u2014Drag Race<\/em><\/a> alum Jiggly Caliente was the only notable performer to drop out<\/a>\u2014I decided to find out what Bushwig attendees had to say about Banks and her comeback.<\/p>\n

Can you explain the Azealia Banks comeback to me? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Iodine Quartz, 24<\/strong>
\nI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a comeback, because in my opinion she never left<\/em>. I have a very strong opinion about Azealia Banks and it\u2019s entirely positive and supportive, due to her mental health journey\u2014that a lot of us are going through anyway. Anyone who has more money than us, celebrities, are not subtracted from the same sort of grace and compassion. And I also think it\u2019s very interesting that a lot of non-people of color within the queer community are so eager to cancel her but will also listen to Donda<\/em><\/a>. It\u2019s misogyny and combined racism for me.<\/p>\n

Yaga Tigerlily, 23<\/strong>
\nAzealia Banks was always there. We refused to acknowledge her\u00a0 because she said things that hurt people\u2019s feelings. Celebrities do a lot of problematic sh*t and we\u2019re able to forgive them, then we should be able to work on that however we feel is appropriate. She\u2019s putting out great content, and I\u2019m willing to accept what she has to offer to the queer community.<\/p>\n

Pansy, 30<\/strong>
\nIt\u2019s not a comeback. She never went anywhere. I dunno. She\u2019s not wrong in saying what she says about the white cis gay community. She\u2019s just a compete b*tch about it, which I love her for. She clearly suffers from mental health struggles, so I don\u2019t hold any of her negative comments against her, because I don\u2019t feel like they come from a place of being, like, meant<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Ok, but I feel like I\u2019m not hearing anything about the things she\u2019s said about trans people.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Iodine Quartz: <\/strong>Her specific comments on Instagram about my trans brothers and sisters and thems\u2014that for me was my cutoff at one point in time. That was when I had to unfollow her and stop listening to her music. That was my ultimate disagreement with her\u2014I don\u2019t want to say her beliefs, because she recently negated that. But that was my disconnect with how she operates. It was a moment of\u2026needing to reflect on my own alliance. And also I reflected on how society views these people who have more money than us and are also celebrities and pop stars. There needs to be a divide between loving the art and loving the artist. At the end of the day we are all people and we have all said some horrible sh*t. Everyone\u2019s trauma is their own. I personally don\u2019t<\/em> forgive Azealia for what she said about the trans community, as well as, like, trying to blend it into Judaism. I didn\u2019t like that at all. That was very antisemitic. But also, even in having friends who have the same illness that she has, with them, I have to take everything they say with a grain of salt. Because I know there are these moments where they\u2019re not themselves. They\u2019re supercharged. They act out of irrational behavior.<\/p>\n

Avery Badgirl, 25, they\/she<\/strong>
\nHonestly, she\u2019s always had bops and she\u2019s always been problematic, and I feel like my view of her as a person hasn\u2019t changed. My view of her music has also stayed pretty similar. I do really love her music and I do think that she\u2014all of her personal statements are concerning. I frankly don\u2019t understand how someone can say the things that she says. As far as a \u201ccomeback,\u201d I don\u2019t see her differently than I ever have. I haven\u2019t forgotten the transphobia or any of that.<\/p>\n

Ruby Tuesday, 24, he\/they (out of drag), she\/her (in drag)<\/strong>
\nI\u2019m excited to see her tonight, because I love her music. I don\u2019t know if she should be playing Bushwig. I don\u2019t agree with her transphobic comments. However, I do love a problematic queen. And I do think that art in general is probably going to be problematic to somebody. I don\u2019t like that hers is problematic to trans people. But I loved<\/em> her un-cancelling herself! Because that was iconic! And, like, of course, she\u2019s a Black woman so she gets canceled, but all these white men aren\u2019t canceled, and they\u2019re still getting to act or sing or whatever. And I also believe you should be able to separate the art from the artist. I really don\u2019t like when people are like, You shouldn\u2019t listen to that! <\/em>I\u2019m like, I don\u2019t care what she does. I like her music. <\/em>I don\u2019t want to give her my money necessarily. But\u2026yeah.<\/p>\n

Phoebe Bingbong, 25, she\/her<\/strong>
\nI also like Azealia Banks\u2019s music. She puts out a lot of bops. But I think that [Bushwig] is not a space where we should be inviting that kind of an energy. This is an LGBTQ friendly place and that includes trans people. That includes gay people. She\u2019s said stuff about multiple facets of the LGBTQ community, and I think that we should hold that kind of an artist accountable. If you\u2019re gonna say this stuff about our community, you shouldn\u2019t be invited into our community to then perform for us. But I also agree with the fact that it\u2019s the art vs. the artist. I still listen to [Azealia Banks\u2019s] music. I don\u2019t personally purchase it, but I do enjoy the music, so I keep listening.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Danilda Est\u00e9vez, 34, she\/her<\/strong>
\nI am surprised that people haven\u2019t reached their breaking point with her, that people are still willing to\u2026 We have this expression in the Dominican Republic: hacerle coro<\/em>. It doesn\u2019t have a literal translation, but it means when people are still vibing with you, when you\u2019ve done a lot, but we still vibe with you. The thing is, I\u2019m actually grateful that she\u2019s still being given the opportunity to make her art. Because, as controversial as she is as a person, I think that what she creates has value. And if we are going to accept Kanye with all his madness, why not give Azealia the chance to make her stuff and share it with the world. I do think that she needs to find some light within herself. She may have some conflicts that she needs to deal with, and if she found that clarity I think her art would be better, maybe she wouldn\u2019t find herself in antagonistic positions with so many people. But I try to accept her as she is. I love her music. I find her entertaining. I have a thing for problematic people!<\/p>\n

As for the comeback\u2026 I cannot really explain it. One theory is simply that society is more open to listening to women. If you think about it, 10 years ago she would have been completely destroyed by the industry by this point. You know how the industry ganged up on people. Canceling celenbrities is something that happened repeatedly to women!<\/p>\n

Will, 32, cis male<\/strong>
\nShe is, for all intents and purposes, a terrible person. She called<\/a> Zayn Malik a sand n*****! She has said some really bad sh*t. I will say, one thing that gays are pretty terrible at: they\u2019re pretty [willing] to let things go if someone\u2019s going to release a bop, right? And she released several bops. So, I unfollowed her on Instagram. I was over it. And then she came out with this massive apology to the gays. And I was like, Sure, that doesn\u2019t make everything better, but I was still listening to her music anyway, so now I feel a little bit more\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n

So, you feel good about the \u201capology\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Will:<\/strong> I think the apology is at least there<\/em>. At least she\u2019 acknowledging it. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s enough, and I don\u2019t think anyone\u2019s ever gonna say that Azealia Banks is the big LGBT queen. I saw this tweet that she put out about Kim Petras the other day, and I was just like, Come on!<\/em> We accepted your shitty apology, so why<\/em> do you keep going in on this? And that did bother me. She\u2019s a Black woman, so maybe we\u2019re giving her a little more room than if she was a white man, for sure. But\u2026yeah, I like her songs.<\/p>\n

Nick, 27, cis male<\/strong>
\nI am fairly out of the loop with all of her recent statements.<\/p>\n

She compared gender confirmation surgery to castration in February of this year. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Nick:<\/strong> Yeah, that\u2019s not cool at all. That all being said, acknowledging that I\u2019m not the most in-tune with the exact details, I also remember parts of her Twitter rants where she was saying she was suicidal. And I think that my position on it is that if she is eventually willing to own up to problematic behavior and show that that awareness is causing her to stop, I would be willing to embrace her again. I personally still have a problem with her. I think I\u2019m looking at it with the view of mental health: Is this her literally having an inability to control her thoughts? If that\u2019s the case, maybe she should take the steps to censor herself in a way that\u2019s not going to bring other people down or make them feel worse about themselves. Of course, I like a few of her songs. I am not really willing to support her as an artist\u2014but I\u2019m also not going to not<\/em> come to an event that I love just because she\u2019s performing. I see the harm in some types of cancel culture. In her case, I think that cancel culture could be appropriate. It\u2019s a grey area for me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29097,"featured_media":34773,"template":"","format":"standard","categories":[38,3292,16],"yoast_head":"\nQueers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019s Comeback<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Azealia Banks is attempting a comeback. Or, depending on who you ask, maybe she\u2019s just doing what artists do: releasing new music, playing shows, doing some press. I decided to find out what people are saying about the controversial rapper.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Queers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019 Comeback\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Azealia Banks is attempting a comeback. Or, depending on who you ask, maybe she\u2019s just doing what artists do: releasing new music, playing shows, doing some press. I decided to find out what people are saying about the controversial rapper.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Grazia USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-13T22:11:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1142318681-e1631555093403-0000.jpg?fit=1280%2C720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/\",\"name\":\"Queers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019s Comeback\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-13T18:25:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-13T22:11:07+00:00\",\"description\":\"Azealia Banks is attempting a comeback. Or, depending on who you ask, maybe she\u2019s just doing what artists do: releasing new music, playing shows, doing some press. I decided to find out what people are saying about the controversial rapper.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Queers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019 Comeback\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/\",\"name\":\"Grazia USA\",\"description\":\"Driving tastemakers in Fashion, Beauty and Culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Queers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019s Comeback","description":"Azealia Banks is attempting a comeback. Or, depending on who you ask, maybe she\u2019s just doing what artists do: releasing new music, playing shows, doing some press. I decided to find out what people are saying about the controversial rapper.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Queers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019 Comeback","og_description":"Azealia Banks is attempting a comeback. Or, depending on who you ask, maybe she\u2019s just doing what artists do: releasing new music, playing shows, doing some press. I decided to find out what people are saying about the controversial rapper.","og_url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/","og_site_name":"Grazia USA","article_modified_time":"2021-09-13T22:11:07+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1142318681-e1631555093403-0000.jpg?fit=1280%2C720","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/","url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/","name":"Queers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019s Comeback","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-13T18:25:41+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-13T22:11:07+00:00","description":"Azealia Banks is attempting a comeback. Or, depending on who you ask, maybe she\u2019s just doing what artists do: releasing new music, playing shows, doing some press. I decided to find out what people are saying about the controversial rapper.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/articles\/azealia-banks-comeback\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Queers Explain Azealia Banks\u2019 Comeback"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/#website","url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/","name":"Grazia USA","description":"Driving tastemakers in Fashion, Beauty and Culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Grazia USA","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles\/34759"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/articles"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/articles"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29097"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/graziamagazine.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}