Azealia Banks has long been known as one of the most controversial women in hip-hop thanks to her penchant for running fearlessly into beefs with other artists and for using controversial terms like the gay slur “f—-t.” For years, Banks has asserted her entitlement to use the term as she sees fit, but now it seems like she’s had a change of heart and decided it’s time to drop the word from her vocabulary.
As most fans know, Banks has used the word often against online critics and a number of celebrities, most recently former One Direction member Zayn Malik, who she beefed with after she accused him of biting her style.
Last year, Banks spoke about her thoughts on the gay slur and explained that “When I use the word ‘f—-t,’ it comes from a feminist point of view … The word ‘f—-t’ came to me from my mother. And it was never a thing about a guy being gay. It was always just a man who hates women. You can be gay or straight. You can be a straight f—-t… F—-ts are men who want to bring women down, f— with their heads, control them.”
Banks, who is openly bisexual, also explained that her intent behind the word isn’t homophobic because she is part of the LGBT community and that she thinks that it’s mainly the “white gay media” who take offense to her language because she is unapologetic about critiquing their racism and misogyny.
“I definitely think a lot of the time with the ‘white gay media’ – especially with female artists – in order for you to seem successful or seem feminine you have to desire their approval. I feel like a lot of times gay men can be way more misogynistic than even straight men,” Banks said before adding, “To be homophobic would imply that I’m, like, ‘I can’t sit next to a gay man cuz Im’ma catch the gay, but I already caught the gay. I feel like when I use the word ‘f—-t,’ it comes from, like, a feminist point of view, not a homophobic point of view. It’s really just kinda like you feel attacked as a woman.”
Well, yesterday, Banks went on Facebook and shared with her fans that her views on the word have changed recently and that she doesn’t want to use the word anymore because she feels it does more harm than good.
“Ok, i’m never saying the word F****T ever again. The amount of people that get hurt when i use the word vs. the amount of people i’ve said it to are just not worth it. Honestly… This isn’t a cop out, its just me realizing that words hurt,” Banks wrote.
But that isn’t all she had to say on the matter. Read the rest of her lengthy statement on the slur, after the cut.
