Azealia Banks Called Donald Trump and Kanye West 'Fat'—But Not for Reasons You Might Expect

In March 2024, rapper Azealia Banks made headlines. It was when she called former President Donald Trump and musician Kanye "Ye" West "fat." The outburst came in response to a post shared by conservative commentator Candace Owens. Owens had taken to Instagram to promote her interview with Joe Budden on his podcast. According to the trailer, Owens tackled 'problems with feminism, the LGBTQ community, and the fat acceptance movement,' and Banks did not hold back in her response. 

The rapper stated on her Instagram Story, "These are not politics, these are opinions. And they are tired as hell." She then criticized Trump and West. "Donald Trump and Kanye are fat, and we saw Kanye fat ashy butt in the gondola... where's the disdain?" Still, Banks did not stop there. She questioned the focus on other public personalities and their weights: "Why are we still coming for Lizzo over some years old s***." 

This comment looked to be a reference to Owens' continuous criticism of singer Lizzo, which was also a topic of conversation during Owens' appearance on The Joe Budden Podcast. During that podcast, Owens accused Lizzo of 'gaslighting' the audience, saying, "I don't like the game that people play where they do something that is so obviously outrageous. Like, you know, Lizzo in a thong shaking your a** cheeks. You know what that was." Owens went on to describe Lizzo's performances as 'disgusting' and 'perverted,' adding, "Is there no space that's safe?" as per Newsweek. 

Lizzo seemed to respond to these comments in her own Instagram post on March 17, 2024. She lip-synced to a viral audio reel, saying, "Hey everyone, it's come to my attention that some of you think I have thick skin. I don't. I never have, I never will. Everything you say deeply, deeply hurts me, affects me, keeps me up at night; you have to be nice to me. That's the deal moving forward, okay?"

Banks' statements were surprising to many, given she had previously named Trump, West, and Owens as her favorite prominent figures, as per Salon. In 2020, she even congratulated Trump following the election, saying, "First off, I would like to apologize to Donald Trump for all the stupid jokes I made. (I was kidding)." 

People had been discussing Trump's weight for a while before Banks said anything. In February 2024, Trump took to Truth Social to protest about a photo that he said was generated by AI to make him appear larger than he is, saying, "The Fake News used Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) to create the picture on the top left. These are despicable people, but everyone knows that. The other pictures are me hitting Golf balls today to show the difference. Sadly, in our Country, Fake News is all you get!"