RZA is firing back after Azealia Banks said that she hopes he “drops dead.”
In a statement through his publicist, the Wu-Tang Clan rapper-producer responded to the comments. “Enough is enough,” he said. “Respect and decency should happen at some point.”
This follows a series of insults from Banks, who accused Russell Crowe of spitting on her at a party she attended with RZA last year. “RZA has to stop talking about me in the media,” she wrote on Snapchat. “Until he is ready to apologize [to me] publicly he can go back to sucking Russell Crowes dick for invites to Hollywood parties. Nobody understands how badly I wanted to die the moment rza LIED and told the world I deserved to be spat. People laugh at me and said I lied. No one understands the amount of pain that came with and after that incident. Just fucking respect me and stop saying me name. @RZA I HOPE YOU DROP DEAD.”
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On Facebook, she added: “I would think that one of my mentors and friends in RZA would have taken my back immediately and called it out for what it was, and not waited a year for the world to recently cave-in and realize how awful women can be treated in Hollywood,” she wrote. “I’m still disgusted that it happened to me, but feel somewhat vindicated.”
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RZA’s representative, Tresa Sanders, called the statements “derogatory” and said that the producer “does not want to further embarrass Banks,” but that he “stands by not revealing all of the details at this time.” Sanders notes that RZA was “concerned about her welfare” on the night of the alleged altercation with Crowe and that he’s “responded positively” when asked about her in recent interviews. According to Sanders, he called Banks a “great talent” on “The Breakfast Club.”
“Regardless of any rumored conditions she may have, I feel there is no excuse for this type of behavior, therefore I feel obligated to let the record show that RZA has tried his best to support Ms. Banks,” added Sanders. “Taking the high road is not an easy task when someone constantly slanders you, but he has.”
Crowe avoided charges in the controversial case involving Banks, after witnesses claimed that she threatened to cut a woman’s throat with a glass at the hotel suite party in question. In December, the District Attorney ruled that Crowe was “justified to prevent the imminent violence threatened by Banks” and that his spit was “incidental to preventing more serious threatened violence” at the event. Witnesses also claimed that Crowe’s spit did not land on Banks.
Despite the controversy, the RZA-directed movie Love Beats Rhymes starring Banks is set to hit select theaters Dec. 1.