Azealia Banks Creates GoFundMe To Sue Russell Crowe
Azealia Banks is calling on the public to help her raise $100,000 to take on actor Russell Crowe in a lawsuit.
Banks, the 27-year-old rapper and budding actor who stars in the film Love Beats Rhymes, said Oscar-winning actor Crowe assaulted her in 2016. Now, she has launched a GoFundMe page to raise money for a legal battle with Crowe.
Aside from choking and spitting on her, Banks has accused Crowe of causing damage to her budding acting career and reputation. The rapper insisted that any money she would potentially get from a lawsuit would not be used for personal gain but for “ocean clean up charities.”
“This isn’t about a big pay day for me, it’s about letting the world know that black women are victims to the same sort of disgusting violence men in Hollywood deal out to women and it’s important to send a message that black women also deserve justice and will get justice in these situations,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page. “Crowe called me a n**ger, choked me, and spat on me… if I were a white singer he wouldn’t have even thought about laying a finger on me. So many things like this happen in the entertainment industry and it’s time that ALL these perpetrators get reprimanded so they STOP this violent behavior!!”
In 2016, Page Six revealed that the Los Angeles County district attorney would not press charges against the 54-year-old Crowe. The DA came to the conclusion that the actor, known for critically acclaimed films like Gladiator and A Beautiful Mind, only used physical force to stop Banks, who allegedly issued threats during a gathering he hosted.
According to Page Six the DA’s office called Crowe spitting on Banks’ gloved hand “incidental to preventing more serious threatened violence.”
RZA, the Wu-Tang Clan rapper, actor, and filmmaker, reportedly invited Banks to attend a small gathering at Crowe’s hotel suite to listen to music. Crowe invited a small crowd of about 10 people, one of which was RZA, according to Daily Mail.
While at the gathering, RZA told TMZ that Banks was the actual aggressor in the situation and threatened a guest, which led Crowe to remove her. RZA said Banks both verbally and physically attacked Crowe at his gathering.
However, Banks has stuck to her story and said that Crowe was the actual threat and that her reputation has been negatively impacted by the ordeal. At press time, she has raised over $2,000 toward her goal.
