Azealia Banks Apologizes For Using Gay Slur: “This Is Me Realizing That Words Hurt”

Latifah Muhammad
Updated
"Real witches do real things."

Azalea Banks apologized to fans, and promised to stop using a gay slur, because she realizes that hurting others is “just not worth it.”

The 25-year-old Harlem native shared the stream of consciousness on Facebook early Friday (June 10), and announced that she’s “never saying the word F****T ever again.”

Banks explained that she might have tough skin, but that doesn’t mean she has to offend people.

“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,” she wrote. “Honestly… This isn’t a cop out, its just me realizing that words hurt. and while I may be immune to every word and be thicker skinned than most, it doesn’t mean that I get to go around treating people with the same toughness that made my skin so thick. Because, that IS how people get thick skin… by being subjected to name calling/belittlement/abuse and its [sic] not fair. Not fair to my fans, not fair to my peers but most importantly, Not fair to myself.”

Banks also feels her words don’t always reflect her “true” self. “I paint the picture of someone who is used to suppressing things, and being defensive,” Banks continued. “I paint the picture of someone who cannot allow themselves to be vulnerable or at the very least, Happy…. when I am ALL of those things. I’m kind, I’m caring, I’m generous, I love to make people laugh and above all of it, I LOVE ART.”

To close, Banks made direct amends with her fans. “I want to SINCERELY apologize to my fans for having let so many of you down over the years. I know that you all want nothing else for me but to see me win, and I thank the many of you who saw the beauty in me and have stuck around this far. The ‪#‎Kuntbrigade‬ loves me more than I’ve EVER felt love in my life and it would be so sacrilegious to throw away my blessings that way.”

With so many social media feuds on record, the “The Big Big Beat” rapper has had plenty of time to reflect, and maybe tone her things down. Twitter suspended her account last month after she called “Pillowtalk” crooner Zayn Malik a “punjab,” and subsequently spiraled into an offensive diatribe that involved a spat with 14-year-old Disney star, Skai Jackson. She later clarified her comments with an essay on mental illness.