Singer pulls out of festival after alleged pro-Hamas ‘extortion’
Singer and rapper Azealia Banks last week announced her withdrawal from a music festival, saying she was “bullied” into publicly supporting Palestine.
“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 a f**king hijab,” Banks posted to X on June 25th.
“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 bullsh*t attached to it. “
Banks ended by saying the political pressure was just “more thinly veiled racism And overt antisemitism from the f**king gays for Hamas.”
Why are music festivals Palestine-themed?
This is not the first time Banks has voiced her opposition to the pro-Hamas movement, having sparked controversy in recent months with multiple tweets condemning it. But the rejection makes Banks an outlier in a music industry that is increasingly pro-Hamas, which Banks alleges is due to pressure from promoters.
On Saturday, British rap performer Bob Vylan led thousands of fans in chanting “Death, death to the IDF” and “Free, free Palestine” during a performance at a music festival in Glastonbury. He finished it off by exclaiming, “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be, will be, will be free, inshallah” as attendees waved Palestinian flags.
At the same festival, the Irish rap group Kneecap used some of their time on stage to accuse Israelis of being “war criminals” and lead the throngs in another chant of “Free, free Palestine.” The band pulled a similar stunt at the Coachella festival in April, when they made anti-Israel remarks and displayed the flag of the Islamic terror group Hezbollah.
Last month, members of the famed rock group Imagine Dragons ended their show by waving a Palestinian flag as they took their final bows.
