I welcome the national conversation about how we need to listen to women when they tell us their stories. I welcome the national conversation about trusting women and believing women. And if Azealia Banks didn’t have a long history of homophobia, racism and violence, I probably would be giving her side the benefit of the doubt. But as it stands… I just don’t believe her. On Monday, we heard that Russell Crowe had bear-hugged Banks out of his hotel suite when she started ranting obscenely at a small group of guests. Banks allegedly threatened people with a wine glass and was throwing around the n-word quite liberally. Banks’ side of the story is that Crowe assaulted her, called her the n-word and spat on her. So what now? Here are some of the stories today:
Azealia is now beefing with RZA. She was RZA’s plus-one to this intimate little party, and RZA reportedly told police that Crowe did nothing wrong, that Banks was the one being a nuisance. TMZ reports that RZA and Banks were working on a deal where she would have signed on to his label. He was still willing to give her a shot, but now Banks is saying that “the deal is OFF.” RZA’s people tell TMZ that he doesn’t even care and he thinks Banks is “full of it” when it comes to her story about what went down in the hotel suite.
All of the witnesses. The Daily Mail says there were 10 people total in the room (including Banks) and that nine out of ten of those people are telling the same story. The story is that “her erratic behavior and abusive language scared everyone there. Her bizarre antics culminated in her practically lunging across the table with a glass in her hand while threatening to slice the throats of at least two people. No one called her the n word. She was yelling the n word at everyone else. Russell behaved like a hero. He acted in defense of his guests and removed her from his suite by putting her in a bear hug and picking her up.” All of the guests have now provided statements to the police, apparently. The DM also points out that Banks’ story keeps changing.
Azealia tells her side of the story. She spoke with The Sun and you can read her version of events here. Her story is that everybody was drinking heavily (moonshine, whiskey, vodka) and getting high and that Crowe was hitting on her and some other woman tried to start a beef with her and that’s when I stopped reading.
If you still want to give Banks the benefit of the doubt, God bless. I tend to believe that this is a pretty clear-cut case of Azealia Banks acting like an a—hole yet again.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Ew his yellow teeth!
Um nah he has normal human teeth
No, Google “Russell Crowe teeth” to see them closely!
Teeth come in different colours. Not everyone’s blessed with shiny white teeth and not everyone wants to get veneers.
He is a big smoker maybe that’s it, I can’t really see that well on my PC at work.
His teeth are fine, but you know that’s the absolute last time she will EVER be invited to a party. Well, at lest by anyone with any common sense.
She’s mentally ill.
who cares? (about the teeth)
Hmm nah. Fluorescent white teeth Americans seem to love are not natural or better than regular teeth. If you have to separately googly other photos of him to ‘really see it’ they can hardly be that yellow.
If everyone else’s story is consistent with one another and she’s the only one saying differently then it’s more than likely that she’s the one lying.
It also sounds as though RZA was giving her a good opportunity and probably believed in her abilities so I think it’s likely if she were telling the truth that he’d have backed her up because nothing about his association with her until this point suggests he was in any way interested in doing her down.
It’s not impossible to think that after she became threatening, Crowe or someone else may have mistreated her or gotten racist, but it’s hard to believe that that many people (9 out of 10) would be heartless enough to try to cover up her being spit on and called a racial slur in exchange for money- it’s hard to see that many people in one setting being comfortable with doing something like that. (But that might be a little optimistic, people have covered up or participated in all kinds of things, so it’s not impossible.) On the one hand she and Lindsay Lohan are harder to automatically believe, but on the other hand, that’s something the wrong kind of person can easily bank on. I at least hope it’s not a matter of her flat-out lying if it turns out that what she’s saying isn’t true.
I believe 9 out of ten people.
(not all the time)
Call me crazy.
Well let’s say there were 9 other people in that room and she was the 10th person…
It was reported in some of the UK papers as “Russell Crowe used “the n word” etc etc etc”, with the small qualification at the end of the story
“it was alleged”. Give a dog a bad name…..
Comedian Jim Jefferies was one of the people who were there and he has said that Azalea Banks was acting like a lunatic. I believe Mr. Jefferies because he’s one of my favorite comics & he doesn’t come across as a liar, he tends to be brutally honest.
I’d believe her but she has a history of being the aggressor in many many situations like that, whether IRL or online.
She needs to go away, far away. Women have enough difficulty being believed when they come forward with their stories of abuse. Clear liars like this only add to that problem. I’m disgusted by her and everything she’s done…and this comes from someone who thinks Crowe is a jerk!
Run RZA run.
I don’t think she’s a liar, exactly; I think she’s got an untreated mental illness.
I could be wrong, but I seem to remember her talking in the past about being bipolar.
So you think her mental illness made her imagine that RC was calling her the n-word and spit on her? And threaten to split people’s throats?
She can be both. People with mental illness are not always threatening people. More often than not they are more a threat to themselves
Does seem like there is something wrong, sad.
Exactly. Women who lie about domestic violence or rape are awful f#cking people. Just some of the WORST people. They make it more difficult for women who HAVE been abused to be believed.
I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again, you can have a mental illness AND be a total a$$hat! Nobody knows for sure she even is bipolar other than her saying so. Personally I don’t believe it. I think that term was tossed out there one time and she ran with it b/c now it gives her an excuse. I’ve known many people with various mental illnesses – bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, and one were violent, mean, hateful, dangerous. Stop excusing this grown woman’s animal behavior. And if she is bipolar and knows it, why hasn’t she gotten any help? Because she enjoys being an a$$hat and everybody keeps justifying it – she had a rough childhood, she was the victim of racism herself, she’s mentally ill….pffft! She’s a jerk and nobody’s going to do anything until she kills or permanently injures someone, and even then…well, she’s bipolar. Whatever…
I don’t like to armchair diagnose, but I will say that she doesn’t present as bipolar.
I also think it’s a combination of both: She’s mentally ill and has had a hard life, and she’s a nasty, racist person. I don’t think the mental illness angle is a lie to feel sorry for her though. (That doesn’t mean she or whoever makes up her team can’t ever use it to her advantage).
I can’t even look at her face…she looks crazed.
First of all, thought one of the stories (on another site – not sure which one) stated that the spitting and name calling occured in the hallway once Crowe removed her from the room. This article says it happened in the room. So much wrong with her story. She also said he said the n-word quietly. Thought she had receipts for this. Where are the receipts?
I think Crowe is a jerk, but she’s full on crazy train, so hard to believe her.
It’s hard enough for women or mentally ill to be believed when coming forward with harassment, abuse, etc, so this is so frustrating.
I am sure this could be used by some people against victims of racism and misogyny, but I hope most people will judge her to be mentally ill and separate that from other issues. It is always going to be difficult to judge claims made by those with mental illness, but I doubt the professionals who have to do that will be influenced by this case.
Yes, there is clearly a mental health issue. I’m wondering if her threats of violence at the party would be enough to let the authorities to intervene and get her mental health assessed.
Her behavior at the party could have merited a 5150 hold.
She is truly beautiful and extremely talented with music. What a waste that she is going down such a self-destructive path that disrupts the lives around her. I hope for her to find help with her mental anguish.
AB (that’s for you, Loopy) needs help desperately.
Hahaha, YES, get ’em.
ohhh emmm geee!!! zing!!
I’m trying to figure out if her behavior is a combination of drug use and mental illness. She needs a psychiatric evaluation ASAP.
Mental health issues often go unnoticed until something big happens. I hope she gets help.
Yeah but this is like the 10th incident…
If someone doesn’t want to get better, they won’t.
Ok I have moved from thinking she is Bipolar to her being Borderline Personality Disorder. It’s really hard to treat these patients, medication alone just takes the edge off but they need intense DBT therapy one-on-one.
They are dangerous to themselves and others. Burn bridges left and right. Form unstable and inappropriate relationships. Engage in self harm from cutting, alcohol or illicit drugs to “feel something”. They have huge abandonment issues and are so very, very needy.
She needs to be hospitalized on a 51/50 and start therapy as an in-patient. It can take years but the sooner you start, the sooner you can improve your life.
It’s possible all of Crowe’s friends are lying to protect him but I seriously doubt it. I believe Banks, once again, flew into a rage and said and did things that she shouldn’t have. Stories like this is why I don’t subscribe to the believe all women all the time mantra. I believe women the vast majority (90%) of the time but that’s as far as I’ll go.
And you think her friend and date for the evening, RZA, also lied to benefit RC?
Moonshine?? They were drinking moonshine? Was she full on hallucinating? Russell made some toilet wine while RZA strummed a banjo I guess. Sounds legit. LOL
But seriously, she seems to have mental issues on top of being a raging b*tch. She’s needs to find bottom, hit it and rebuild her life.
Not all moonshine is made in a bathtub. There’s a lot of really well made moonshine out there now, legitimately for sale.
It was a joke. But it still sounds ridic in this context.
Some of these comments are making me so gd sad. She behaved appallingly, it was appropriate to remover her (especially if she was threatening people), and a minor reprimand wouldn’t hurt anybody. But she’s so clearly not well. She needs treatment, not claims that she’s “beyond repair” or whatever bullshit is being tossed around about this poor woman.
Reminds me of Britney Spears. People were merciless, and yet anyone who’s ever been mentally ill just wanted to give her a f–king hug.
Well, Britney didn’t make false police reports of assault, and very inflammatory charges of racism (calling her the n-word and spitting on her) to be fair. Nor did she physically threaten to slit people’s throats.
Indeed. With a glass in her hand. And only a very few people with mental health issues act like this woman. I believe Catherine Zeta Jones is bi polar but I have yet to read anything similar about her.
And yet both are mentally ill and suffered the fallout without much mercy, regardless of behavior. Hence my comment that she should be removed from the situation, reprimanded, and receive treatment.
@Annetommy: “Very few people with mental health issues act like this woman” is selection bias. They do, and often. They require treatment.
Assuming her behaviour is the result of mental illness doesn’t really do anything to de-stigmatise it. She can be both mentally ill and a raging assh*le. Her illness may mean it is harder for her to filter, but the raging homophobia and racism are all hers to own.
There is no way she is not mentally ill. This is not normal behavior even for asshats. However this type of shat behavior to others (including friends) can be seen with Borderline patients. The do have paranoia, can haullucinate and can be totally a danger to themselves and to others. I hope they can use the false police report to have her hospitalized for her own safety.
Sure, I’m not arguing with that, but repeatedly calling someone a “sandn*gger” and implying that anyone she doesn’t like is the recipient of anal sex is NOT the result of mental illness.
I feel like the reason folks are angry about this is, we don’t need anyone to accuse us of crying racism or crying rape. When people like Azalea Stanks do that it harms actual survivors who need to be believed. And, not that I’m crying for Russell Crowe in particular but it’s low down to make that kind of false accusations on someone just to try to hurt them. It’s nasty and immoral. I have mentally ill people in my family the kind that have actual delusions. When they are having delusions you can tell that’s what is happening, even if they attack someone you can tell they think they are trying to do the right thing, like they are attacking Satan or a demon. They never do what Azealia Stanks does and deliberately try to hurt an innocent person on purpose. That’s why I don’t chalk up her behavior to mental illness.
Thing is, Azaela and Britney are extremely different, personality wise. Britney, for instance, was not an overt, blatant racist, bigot, and homophobe, who threatened physical harm to innocent people on multiple, documented occasions. Britney did not go on public media and say disgusting, cruel, menacing things to and about other people. In fact, Britney seemed a danger only to herself, while Azaela appears to endanger just about everyone she comes into contact to. She has depicted herself as volatile, foul mouthed, prejudiced, and altogether mean spirited, which was never the case w Britney, who seemed vulnerable rather than vicious. Both, I believe, suffer mental illness, but Azaela’s malignant personality is what repels people so much, and makes them unlikely to feel like “giving her a hug”…Having mental illness does not make a person inherently safe from responsibility and judgment, especially when they have proved that their *personality*, itself–however roiled it is by their mental illness–appears to be an exceptionally cruel one.
I thought she had “receipts?” What a liar.
He is Russel Crowe and i am sure hìs friendz will lie for him. I believe that she was mistreaþed
She was RZA’s date and even RZA says she lied about Crowe
She needs help. I just read what she said to Zahng. Oh my God.
It’s so easy to abuse mentally ill people. No one Will ever believe them. I believe her. I believe the witnesses are lying because it’s safe. No one Will ever investigate her complains. AB is what she Is and I don’t condone That but she Is also vulnérable and I believe brutalized by the industry.
And it’s way easier for me to believe AB, yes even AB, than Crowe, a powerful, protected and entitled white actor who also has a not so cute past.
Babs… Sounds like it was investigated and everyone had the same story but her.
If you want to believe that nine people lied including the one that brought her to the party, go ahead.
If she is mentally ill she needs to seek treatment or someone that loves her should see that it happens… But being mentally ill does not entitle someone to threaten and make false claims about other people. That isn’t fair.
Sycophants lie all the time and I don’t know why RZA can’t lie all of a sudden. He and Banks are not friends, why was she here in the first place? The whole thing is shady.
She’s Crazy but I believe her. Of course all Crowe’s friends are going to defend him and RZA as well since he brought her to the party and embarrassed him.
Really? Everyone at the party gave false testimony on a police report that can be used against them in court? Perhaps but really unlikely. Where is AB’s receipts she was promising? She’s clearly suffering from mental issues and needs to be hospitalized not shun or encouraged in her paranoia stage.
Is she the Donald Trump of popular song or what?
Azalea banks, please crawl under a rock and disappear from humanity.
I do believe AB did hear those words whispered in her ear, but I think that it wasn’t RC doing the whispering. I think she hears voices. I would bet on it. All her perceived injustices – its the voices in her head telling her what is happening.
Who is he, goddamn Dog the Bounty Hunter? You can’t go around “restraining” people. When are privileged white men going to learn that they can’t simply lay their hands on someone who isn’t behaving properly? Yes, she is awful. Yes, she is loud and offensive. And if she was being abusive or threatening DO WHAT EVERYONE ELSE WOULD DO AND CALL THE POLICE. THIS ISN’T GLADIATOR, CROWE.
Considering that she was *physically threatening* his friends and guests, I’d say Crowe showed good judgment in removing her from the room. Anyone who is directly threatening immediate physical harm to anyone else *should* be forcibly removed to impede her from carrying through and actually injuring someone nearby them. This has NOTHING to do w him being “a privileged white man” and everything to do with the simple act of avoiding an oncoming physical assault. Had he just called the police, and WAITED for them, it is very likely that Azaela would have injured at least one other person in that room. She *needed* to be removed for the sake of everyone’s physical safety. Crowe (who I immensely dislike) did the right thing: he did not use force that was at all excessive to the situation, just enough to firmly expel her from the room, and from endangering his guests. The only way I can see your turning this into a racial issue is that, reportedly, the n word was continuously, relentlessly used—although exclusively by Azaela herself. Hmmm…Still not understanding your seeing this as a racial issue?
Are you serious ?! He fired someone of his hotel room.This person was menacing,erratic…
She likely has Borderline Personality Disorder due to a traumatic upbringing. Chaotic childhoods create chaotic adults. From her Wiki page: Following her father’s death, Banks says that her mother “became really abusive—physically and verbally. Like she would hit me and my sisters with baseball bats, bang our heads up against walls, and she would always tell me I was ugly. I remember once she threw out all the food in the fridge, just so we wouldn’t have anything to eat.” Due to escalating violence, Banks moved out of her mother’s home at age 14 to live with her older sister.[8]
Oh wow that is so sad.
I definitely developed my eating disorder because my mom has one. brain illness like anorexia, bipolar, anxiety, borderline have a genetic component (nature) but also when you see out of norm behaviors normalized as a kid – like my mom never ate, and ab’s mom sounds unstable? – then it’s really hard to break that pattern because you don’t even realize your behaviors are abnormal, and thus the environmental component of brain illness (nurture) gets reinforced in families. That is all imho.