Things have gone from bad to worse for pop star Iggy Azalea.
After facing criticism from LGBT groups over several since-deleted tweets that the singer posted in 2011 and 2012 about people of color and gays, Azalea took to Twitter on Monday to announce the cancellation of her performance at Pittsburgh’s LGBT Pride event scheduled for June 13th.
“Our board voted last week to not march in the Pittsburgh Pride parade, due to the insensitive choice of Iggy Azalea as headliner,” Vanessa Davis, head of the Pittsburgh chapter of the youth-advocacy group Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network told the Pittsburgh-Post Gazette.
A message to Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/Jm6ZyX0Xyc
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) June 9, 2015The tweets, resurfaced in screenshots, included messages such as “wondered why my butt felt like it was about to grow 2 legs, flip me off, & walk away. then i remembered i played soccer yesterday w 5 d–e b—-es,” “When guys whisper in each others ears I always think its kinda homo,” and “Just saw 5 black men get arrested out the front of popeyes. #damn #stereotypes.”
“I am a firm believer in equality. Unfortunately in the past as a young person, I used words I should not have,” the 25-year-old “Fancy” singer said Monday on Twitter. “This has been a difficult decision as I truly support the event and LGBTQIA communities, however I feel my participation at this point would only serve to further distract from the true purpose of the event.” News of the cancellation comes just weeks after Azalea announced the same for her much-hyped “Great Escape” tour citing “a creative change of heart.” The tour had already been delayed for months as multiple openers dropped out. The Australian rapper also faced backlash for cultural appropriation and not addressing the death of Eric Garner, an unarmed black man killed by New York police earlier this year. As noted by The Los Angeles Times, “Azalea has been called out by J. Cole, admonished by Azealia Banks, ridiculed by Snoop Dogg, given a public history lesson on hip-hop by Q-Tip and been the center of countless think-pieces on white privilege and cultural appropriation.”
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