Azealia Banks has launched a GoFundMe fundraiser which she says is to sue Russell Crowe for spitting at her in 2016.
To understand the latest development in this bizarre story, we have to go back to October 2016. Azealia Banks was a guest of rapper RZA at Russell Crowe’s hotel suite in Beverly Hills on a Saturday night. But according to TMZ, things got a little hairy when Banks made fun of the music Russell Crowe was playing, and called him and another guest “boring white men.”
She was reported to be vulgar and disparaging to everyone in the room, and even threatened to attack people with a broken glass. At that point, Russell Crowe grabbed Azealia Banks in a bear hug, removed her from the room, and called security.
But Banks had a different perspective on what happened. She posted to Facebook that Russell Crowe called her the n-word, choked her, spat on her, and that the men in the room allowed it to happen. However RZA disputed her version of events, saying that Banks was verbally abusive and threatened to cut one of the women in the room.
He also said: “THIS IS NOT A RACE OR GENDER ISSUE. I did not hear Russell call her [the n-word]”
In response, Azealia called RZA a cornball and accused him of trying to gaslight her. She went to the police, but the D.A. decided not to file charges, believing the witnesses that it was Banks herself threatening violence. In an interview the following year on The Breakfast Club, RZA praised Azealia Banks for her talent, but said she had a bad night, though he did confirm that Russell Crowe had spit at her.
Banks did ultimately star in the RZA-directed film, Love Beats Rhymes, and he says she delivered in her performance. Now, nearly two years later, Banks is seeking $100,000 through GoFundMe to sue Russell Crowe.
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She writes that Crowe “had a group of people gaslight me causing irreparable damage to my acting career and my reputation as well as loads of emotional damage.”
Interestingly enough, however, the statement only refers to Crowe denying that he spit on her, and does not address her behavior in the room to that point. But she has stayed firm in her argument that Crowe throwing her out of the room was motivated by race, and that he wouldn’t have touched her had she been a white singer.
The Daily Beast argued that Banks’ accusations were tossed aside too quickly, and that not enough attention was paid to what Russell Crowe did, despite having a history of violent actions. She says any money she makes from an eventual lawsuit will go to “ocean clean up charities.”
-What do you guys think? Is Azealia Banks right to want to bring a lawsuit or should she let the incident go? Let us know in the comments or on Twitter at @WhatsTrending.
