Aggrodiva Azealia Banks Arrested For Allegedly Assaulting Night Club Security Guard

Santa may be just about ready to put rapper Azealia Banks on the naughty list. In her third public relations nightmare in four months, Banks continued on what is shaping up to be a trajectory away from music and toward troublemaking, reported Billboard magazine.

Already reportedly under investigation by LAPD for an alleged assault on a security guard in L.A., Banks was arrested outside a nightclub in New York’s Meatpacking district on Wednesday. Banks was charged with second-degree harassment for physical contact, disorderly conduct for a fight and violent behavior, and assault with the intent to cause physical injury – a class A Misdemeanor, reports People magazine. She was officially arraigned the same day.

The incident began when Banks became aggressive after being asked to get a stamp required for entry to an exclusive party, which she was attending as an invited attendee’s guest, reported Page Six.

“There was a female security guard and a male guard,” a source said, and Banks began “screaming at the top of her lungs, cursing… once she was 15 feet inside she starts to curse at the guards again, explaining who she was, that she’s on Rihanna’s album.”

The ongoing LAPD investigation began after an alleged assault reported by TMZ in November, in which Banks allegedly tried to pull the fire alarm near the exit of Break Room 86 in L.A. as she was being escorted off the premises after being asked to leave for unruly behavior.

The series of highly-publicized and public tantrums started in September this year, though, when Banks got into an altercation with a Delta flight attendant upon exiting her flight, People Magazine reported. In that incident, Banks hit and scratched at a French couple impeding her attempt to retrieve lugge from the overhead bins. The couple refused to press charges, but the media coverage that followed shared the artist’s unflattering behavior widely, complete with her use of the phrase “f*****g f****t.”

She defended herself later, insisting to TMZ that the French man instigated the whole thing deliberately, and taking to Twitter to defend herself to her fans.

Azealia Banks is public about being bisexual, and she has a following in the gay community, reports Splice Today. Her tirade alienated many of her gay fans, but others chose to turn the other cheek and accept the fact that a young artist under pressure and scrutiny makes mistakes and can learn from them.

Some in the industry are wondering if Banks can learn from her mistakes, however. Eight years ago, the 24-year-old rapper made a name in the business for her rhymes, raw musical talent, and determination, reports Pitchfork. Banks’ most recent album, Broke With Expensive Taste, was well received, and just a few days before her arrest, Banks’ new video “Count Contessa” was making positive waves. However, on the tail of her recent shenanigans, the arrest may be a final straw for the hip-hop media world and fans alike, who are already questioning whether Azealia Banks is focused on music at all these days.

With Banks, there is no question: Her behavior on social media, and generally in public, is destroying her career. – Vulture

Recently, she blew off end-of-year tour dates, which had been rescheduled following the cancellation of a tour with R&B artist K. Michelle, saying she was busy with work and would return in January, reported Stereogum.

But in the face of critics, true to form, Azealia Banks shows no remorse.

[Photo by Cassandra Hannagan/Getty Images]