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Thursday, May 12, 2016

Festival Drops Azealia Banks Over Zayn Rant

A London music festival has cancelled an appearance by US rapper Azealia Banks after she used racist language in a series of tweets to former One Direction star Zayn Malik.

The controversial African-American artist accused Malik of copying her style on his latest music video in the messages which she has since deleted.

Banks used epithets directed at Muslims against the 23-year-old, who is partially of Pakistani origin and was brought up in Bradford.

"When your entire extended family has been obliterated by good ol the U.S of A will you still be trying to act like a white boy pretending to be black?" Banks said in one tweet.

The Rinse/Born & Bred Festival, which will take place next month in London, announced it had removed her from its lineup.

"Rinse/Born & Bred is a celebration of rave culture and has been created for EVERYONE. We celebrate inclusivity and equality," it said in a statement.

Malik kept a distance from Banks, telling her in Twitter lingo that he had seen her remarks and chosen not to take the bait.

"My @'s too good for you," he tweeted.

Some social media users called on Twitter to suspend Banks.

Malik, who has chosen to go solely by his first name as a solo artist, has taken on an R&B sound since leaving One Direction with his songs featuring lyrics about sex and relationships.

Banks, in a fresh tweet on Wednesday, reiterated her accusations about Zayn's music and cast her remarks about Muslims as a gesture of solidarity.

"He felt as if he was too good to acknowledge me yet not too good to copy my creativity," she wrote.

"I had to remind him that we're both in the same boat in this industry and people of colour."

Banks won wide acclaim for her single 212 but has become better known for her Twitter outbursts, with her pledge in March to quit the platform proving short-lived.

She notably engaged in a long-running feud with the Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, whom she accused of exploiting black culture.

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