It’s been a year since rapstress Azealia Banks rocked headlines when she accused actor Russell Crowe of spitting on her, physically assaulting her (literally throwing her out of a room), and calling her racial slurs (click here to read).
As you may remember, Banks, who was in attendance at a Hollywood shindig thanks to being cast in rapper/filmmaker RZA‘s movie ‘Love Beats Rhymes’ (originally titled ‘Coco’), went on a media blitz after the alleged incident to shed light on it. All the while RZA blatantly denied most of what the rapstress alleged happened actually occurred…
In a lengthy statement lifted to the net in October 2016, he asserted it was Azealia who was causing the real commotion (click here to read it). Stating her “verbally abusive” behavior to guests is why she was physically expelled from the room by Crowe, RZA’s “statement” of not hearing the actor call her the N-word and more ultimately discredited her argument and helped the Academy Award winner avoid charges (click here to read more on that).
Fast forward to October 2017, the rapper – hot on the promo trail for the ‘Love Beats Rhymes’ film – sat down with The Breakfast Club recently to praise Banks’ performance in the film (click here to see that). While there and quizzed on the Crowe incident, he appeared to be singing a different tune. Hear what we mean below:
Start at the :59 mark:
Mess!!!
The revelation may not encourage any renewed interest in the case from Los Angeles prosecutors, but it does lend some level of credence to Banks’ original claims. While RZA maintains he did not hear Crowe call the rapstress a racial slur, it’s hard to believe that at the minimum the actor’s actions were not based in some level of discrimination (be it misogyny, racism, or both).
As we reported here, Banks was sure to call RZA out on his betrayal and maintained throughout the entire process that she was not exaggerating her experience at that party. Sadly, her highly publicized antics (see: social media feuds, etc.) since the onset of her career probably did as much damage to her credibility as RZA did.
Update:
Via RZA’s rep, the rapper did in fact mention Crowe spit at Banks prior to this year. In October 2016, he – shortly after the incident – did admit the actor spit at her (via a message lifted to TMZ). Click here to see it.