Azealia Banks Says Frank Ocean Was “Toxic & Wrong” For Throwing PrEP+ Party

Azealia Banks has further elaborated on her past comments about gay men and their use of the pre-exposure prophylaxis medication, PrEP. On Instagram last week, Azealia made a post extending an apology for a her rant about the HIV-preventative medication in light of to Frank Ocean’s PrEP+ party. Frank held the event in New York City in October in an effort to explore what the NYC nightlife scene would have been like in the 80s and 90s if PrEP had existed back then. Azealia declared that Frank was “evil” and a “dumbass” for hosting the event and that gay men don’t need to take PrEP because it’s “not that serious” and they should just “be responsible,” among other things. In her apology, which has now been deleted from her account, Azealia stated: “It’s not my place. It was extremely insensitive. Who cares if I meant well, that wasn’t the way. I’m really really sorry.” 

Now, however, Azealia is fuming that some more recent comments have been twisted by the LGBTQ publication, Gay Times. She posted a screenshot of an article written by the publication titled “Azealia Banks says ‘adieu’ to her gay fans in aftermath of PrEP backlash.” The article discusses Azealia’s recent announcement that she is quitting music for good, but decides to focus on the fact that the message is explicitly directed at her gay fanbase, whom she feels demonstrate how little they value and appreciate her talent. On her screenshot of the Gay Times article, Azealia wrote “This headline is so manipulative and corny.” She begins the series of photos of text by clarifying that she initially apologized for her PrEP comments becauseshe was “loud and rude,” and the rant had “hit close to home with a personal friend. However, she still believes that it was “toxic and wrong of Frank Ocean [to] associate rave culture with sex” and notes that there was “little backlah regarding the PrEP rant.”

In the rest of the novel-length post, Azealia goes off specifically on white gay men for creating a narrative about her with the Gay Times article, claiming that this community in particular continue to “villainize” her and that white gay men use their sexuality as a “political agenda.” She declares in the caption that all of this, among many other behaviours perpetrated by this community, must stop in 2020. The post is quite a read, but it’s definitely worth it.