Australian rapper Iggy Azalea is not having a good time. Earlier this year Azalea announced that she was postponing her U.S. tour because of production difficulties. Last week Iggy was forced to cancel the entire tour claiming that she “deserved a break” after a pretty relentless couple of years, but speculation emerged that poor ticket sales were the real reason behind the cancellation of Azalea’s tour. Music fans then started a petition asking for Azalea’s Billboard award to be revoked, claiming that her song “ Fancy ” was ineligible for the “best rap song” award she received.
Now Azalea has got herself embroiled in another row this time over alleged racist and homophobic comments. As a result Azalea has been forced into another embarrassing turn around, this time cancelling and appearance at Pittsburgh’s Pride march. The LGBT community in Pittsburgh were furious when it was revealed that Azalea had been chosen to appear at the event. Many groups were threatening to withdraw their support when it was revealed that Azalea had made remarks that were seen as racist and homophobic.
Azalea made the remarks on her twitter account before she shot to fame. One remark suggested that guys whispering in each others ears was “kinda homo.” Other posts saw Azalea stereotyping native Americans, Mexicans and Asians. As a result of the widespread protest against Azalea headlining the Pittsburgh pride event, Iggy returned to the scene of the “crime,” Twitter, to announce that she was cancelling her appearance at the event.
https://twitter.com/IGGYAZALEA/status/608061332676558848
Announcing her withdrawal from the event, Azalea said her participation was a distraction form the purpose of the event. Azalea accepted that in the past she had used inappropriate language that she now regretted.
“I am a firm believer in equality. Unfortunately in the past as a young person, I used words I should not have. I meant no harm and deeply regret ever uttering those words.”
Azalea used her statement to deny that her past comments are reflective of her character and to apologize to anyone who was offended or disappointed by her words.
The cancellation of Azalea’s performance came after numerous groups threatened to boycott the event organized by the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh. The foundation responded to the criticism of Azalea as a headliner in a Facebook post.
“If we believed that Iggy Azalea was racist or homophobic, we certainly would not have selected her to headline Pittsburgh Pride, we also don’t believe she would have agreed to come if she was racist or homophobic.”
The foundation are now trying to find a short notice replacement for Iggy Azalea who must be wondering how everything is going so wrong for her.
[Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images]