Rinse FM drops Azealia Banks from Born & Bred festival after Twitter rants

Rinse FM has decided to drop Azealia Banks from its Born & Bred festival in Shoreditch, London, on the weekend of June 4 and 5, saying in a statement Born & Bred is “a celebration of rave culture and has been created for EVERYONE”.

Banks was due to headline the festival, where she was one of just a few acts born overseas, but her planned appearance has been cancelled following remarks she made on Twitter.

The 24-year-old is known for her rants on social media and has in the past courted controversy for tweets using derogatory terms about gay men and calling for all black men to be imprisoned, as well as her endorsement of Donald Trump.


Her latest attack was on Zayn Malik, who she accused of biting her style for his Like I Would video, and contained a lot of racist language. She then launched a tirade about UK rap as a whole.

.@bornandbredLDN ANNOUNCEMENT pic.twitter.com/JkwoXLChya

— Rinse FM (@RinseFM) May 11, 2016

Given that Wiley, Ghetts, Aj Tracey, P Money, Mikill Pane and so many more are performing at Born & Bred, it could have got a bit heated had Banks showed up after declaring the UK a “disgrace to rap culture”.

Following the news that she’d been dropped, Banks claimed everyone going was only going to see her, but was quickly shut down by the founder of Rinse FM.