25-year-old rapper Azealia Banks, famous for her hit song ‘212’, live streamed a video defending her decision to use skin-lighterning products after she received backlash from the black community.
Banks has never been shy about speaking out against anti-black racism, and has called out artists such as Iggy Azalea for cultural appropriation of black culture.
Now, Banks finds herself being called out by the black community for being hypocritical. But, on the defensive, Banks has said that she sees no difference “between getting a nose job and changing your skin color.”
In a 21-minute Facebook Live video, Banks makes a variety of statements on why she feels that her decision doesn’t reflect any sort of anti-black or anti-dark skin ideology.
Banks equates skin-bleaching to “speaking clear english” as mechanisms of white assimilation in America. Banks further expresses that all of these actions come with the “falsification of self that comes with being a black person in America.”
People have taken to Twitter to question the defensive statements made by Banks:
What do you think about Azealia’s skin bleaching? A simple body modification or something else?