Azealia Banks has said she won’t return to perform in Australia again, after cancelling two out of three shows on her tour.
The American rapper’s tour got off to a bad start when her scheduled show at Festival Hall in Melbourne was cancelled hours before doors were set to open due to issues with her visa being granted in time.
In a since-deleted statement, organisers Point Productions said the show would be rescheduled, something Banks later denied, blaming the promoters for the issue and insisting she would be paid in full for the company’s “fuck up”.
“The promoters dragged their feet, agreed to provide a number of amenities which were not provided. I have been at the airport since 7am,” Banks said. “Major apologies to the fans who bought tickets but there will be no rescheduled show. I have shit to do.”
Banks’ Sydney show took place as planned at the Enmore Theatre on Sunday night (December 11), and she was set to perform at the Tivoli in Brisbane last night (December 13). Point Productions posted an Instagram story saying the gig was unable to go ahead “due to unforeseen circumstances” that were “well out of [their] control”.
Earlier that day, before the show was cancelled, Banks posted a story on an alternate Instagram account saying she would come to Brisbane but that there would be “loads of security measures” and that “everything that can be considered a projectile” would be checked at coat check. “The minute something stupid happens I’m leaving,” she added.
She then took aim at Australian promoters, saying they’re “the only ones in the world who craft slave like contracts and try to hang revocation of work visas and non-payment over your head, even when you are in physical danger… completely souring the joy and bliss of performing.”
“After this run, this will be my very last time touring Australia,” Banks continued. “This place makes me utterly miserable and I’m too black and beautiful to have a bunch of white people in my face playing with me over their WEAK ASS CURRENCY. You can count this as a farewell tour.”
Banks last toured the country in 2015, when she described her appearance at that year’s Splendour in the Grass festival as a “waste of [her] fucking time”, and lambasted “terrible” crowds in Australia for being “violent and belligerent”.