American rapper Azealia Banks, 34, announced last week that she was canceling her performances at two music festivals in the United Kingdom in protest over pressure she received from the festivals’ promoters to support “Palestine.”
“So, guys, I am cancelling Boomtown and Maiden Voyage,” Banks said of the two festivals, which take place in Winchester and London.
In a post on the social media platform X, Banks wrote, “The promoters have been stressing me out for weeks trying to force me to say free Palestine and threatening to cut me from the bill because I won’t say free Palestine and I’m not dealing with the threats and I’m not putting on a f[**]king hijab.”
“They’re both basically trying to extort me—by insinuating that I need to say I support Palestine or they will drop me from the gig BUT I would much rather drop them and not associate with anything that has cheap group think bullshit attached to it,” Banks wrote.
“More thinly veiled racism. And overt antisemitism from the f[**]king gays for Hamas. F[***]PALESTINE,” she added.
Banks wrote that she wasn’t saying, “f[**]k actual Palestine. But f[**]k your dumb ass slogans and performative bulls[**]t.”
“Like be f[**]king forreal. That war has been going on in the background for f[**]king decades. Way before anyone alive today was born. And all of a sudden yall are throwing around words like genocide and Zionist not even knowing the meaning of those words,” she wrote.
“I’m going to enjoy the rest of my summer and make music,” she concluded. “Kiss my ass.”
Both festivals confirmed that Banks pulled out. Boomtown, in a statement to the London newspaper The Standard, said, “For clarity, Boomtown does not and will never dictate the personal views and beliefs of performers.”
On Saturday, at the U.K.’s largest music festival, thousands chanted “Death to the IDF,” echoing a performer who also told them to “not give up your dreams” even when they’re “working for Zionists.”
A British government spokesperson condemned the rhetoric used on stage by Bobby Vylan, which was aired on the BBC public broadcaster, as did the organizers of the Glastonbury music festival on Sunday.
Banks, who grew up in Harlem, New York, is known for her outspoken views on a host of topics. Earlier this month, she declared on X, “I am a Zionist.”
On June 3, she posted, “No black person should be supporting Palestine,” given the “ongoing *industry* of CHATTEL SLAVERY enslavement of black peoples in the Islamic world.”
Banks had been a strong supporter of U.S. President Donald Trump, attending a Florida Trump rally in late 2024. Though this April, she said that she regretted her vote.
So guys, I am cancelling Boomtown and Maiden Voyage, the promoters have been stressing me out for weeks trying to force me to say free Palestine and threatening to cut me from the bill because I won’t say free Palestine and I’m not dealing with the threats and I’m not putting on…
— AZEALIA BANKS (@iiwasinthee212) June 25, 2025
In 2011, Banks released her debut single “212” (featuring Lazy Jay), which became a top hit. Billboard magazine ranks it as one of the most influential songs of the 2010s.
Banks is also known for “Liquorice,” “Luxury,” and “The Big Big Beat.”
