Organizers Ask Famous Singer to Speak Out Against Israel

Singer Azealia Banks announced that she canceled two of her performances after the organizers had asked her to make anti-Israel statements on stage.

Israeli flag (Source: AFP)

This week, rapper and  singer Azealia Banks announced on X that she has pulled out of two events in the UK – Boomtown and Maiden Voyage – stating that the festivals' promoters put pressure on her to make anti-Israel statements during her performances, reported the international V4NA news agency.

 The organizers asked Azealia Banks to make  anti-Israel statements on stage (Photo: AFP/Xavier Galiana)

So guys, I am cancelling Boomtown and Maiden Voyage, the promoters have been stressing me out for weeks trying to force me to say free Palestine and threatening to cut me from the bill because I won’t say free Palestine and I’m not dealing with the threats and I’m not putting on a fuc***g hijab,

she wrote.

The singer said that the organizers had threatened to cancel her performance if she did not comply with their demands, and noted that she had had enough of the whole situation, as she did not agree with the conditions. As she put it:

I sympathize with the Palestinian people, but I’m fed up with political statements surrounding the issue.

"And no, I’m not saying fu*k actual Palestine. But fu*k your dumb-ass slogans and performative bullshit. Yall wanna make a stance so bad but stand for absolutely nothing," she wrote. Accusing those working in the media of being outraged by things they know nothing about media, she said:

And all of a sudden yall are throwing around words like genocide and Zionist not even knowing the meaning of those words, while you drive around in ur teslas and leave comments from your iPhones all built off the backs and the blood of children working in mines from dusk til dawn.

Tensions are running high in the UK as British police said they were examining videos of a band that led chants of "death to the IDF" or Israel Defense Forces at Saturday’s Glastonbury Festival. Rapper Bobby Vylan, of rap punk duo Bob Vylan, led crowds attending the festival in chants of "free, free Palestine" and "death, death to the IDF."

Nigel Farage has publicly criticized the punk band. "If you vote Reform you can have your country back from these lunatics," he wrote.

If you vote Reform you can have your country back from these lunatics. https://t.co/wSJ35gja86

— Nigel Farage MP (@Nigel_Farage) June 28, 2025

The festival organizers expressed their "shock" at the band’s behavior in a statement, declaring: "Their slogans crossed the line, and we urgently remind everyone involved in organizing the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech, or incitement to violence."

Cover photo: Israeli flag (Source: AFP)