Azealia Banks looks to be gearing up for a legal battle against Russell Crowe, whom she has accused of spitting on her, choking her and calling her the n-word at one of his parties, which she attended with Wu-Tang Clan’s RZA.
So far the campaign (h/t Vulture), which was created on June 24, has raised just over $2,000 of its $100,000 goal.
Banks wrote in the description that whatever money she gets from her intended lawsuit would go toward “ocean clean up charities,” stating:
Russell Crowe spit on me at a party in 2016 and denied it, had a group of people gaslight me causing irreparable damage to my acting career and my reputation as well as loads of emotional damage. Whatever money comes of this will be donated to ocean clean up charities.
Banks again used the GoFundMe to call out the disparities black women face when calling out assault, noting:
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. Crowe called me a nigger, 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 !!
Back in 2016, the Los Angeles County district attorney declined to charge Crowe after Banks filed a police report, finding that his actions were “justified to prevent the imminent violence threatened by Banks.”
It has been charged that Banks started the drama by threatening to cut a guest at the party with a busted bottle.
However, it is still unclear to me how possibly calling someone a nigger and spitting on said person actually defuses and prevents “imminent violence.” ’Cause, bruh, I know many a person who will knock you the fuck out if you even purse your lips to look as if you’d spit on ’em.
But I digress.