Yesterday, I said that I hoped this incident wouldn’t be a week-long story. Guess what? It’s probably going to be a week-long story. TMZ reported on Monday that there was some kind of altercation between Russell Crowe and Azealia Banks at a hotel in Beverly Hills. Russell Crowe was staying in a hotel suite and he invited an group of about 10 people to come over, have dinner, enjoy some music and have a low-key night. One of his friends is RZA, and RZA invited Azealia Banks as his plus-one. That was a really bad call, because Azealia Banks is a messy drama queen and violently unhinged lunatic. Reportedly, Banks started insulting Crowe and some of the guests at the party and one woman told Banks to shut her mouth. So, obviously, Banks escalated the situation, started ranting and threatening violence. Crowe managed to bear hug Banks and physically remove her from the suite.
So what else is there to say? A lot, apparently. Banks went to the Beverly Hills police and filed a battery report against Crowe:
The Russell Crowe-Azealia Banks feud is now in the hands of police after the rapper filed a battery report over their fight in his hotel suite. Sources connected to the case tell us … Azealia went to Bev Hills PD Sunday afternoon after demanding Russell apologize for the incident, where he physically removed her from the room. We’re told Crowe’s reps said he wouldn’t say sorry, because he insists he did nothing wrong.
TMZ broke the story … Azealia allegedly made bloody threats during Crowe’s dinner party. He bear-hugged her out of the room when Azealia grabbed a glass and cocked it back. She claims he also choked her, spat on her and used the n-word while 86ing her from the party.
In TMZ’s original report, their sources said that four of the party guests were like “Crowe just carried her out of the party and that’s it, she was the one who was ranting and throwing n-words.” But Banks insists that Crowe assaulted her and she even says he spit on her in the hallway outside the suite. TMZ says that there is security footage outside of the suite and the police are looking at it now. The police still haven’t interviewed Russell and Azealia but I guess they will at some point. Banks also posted this message to Facebook: “I have receipts. Stay tuned.” She posted that to Facebook because she’s been banned from Twitter after she went off on one of the most offensive, racist and homophobic rants I’ve ever seen on social media.
She also has a new interview with The Evening Standard (done before this incident) where she actually said, “I realised you’re not keeping it real by being a crazy girl. You don’t lose anything by keeping your mouth shut. So maybe it’s time to stop being a crazy girl.” She also blames her behavior on being a Gemini. Go here to read that piece.
My takeaway… I don’t doubt that Russell Crowe is now and has always been temperamental, and we all know that he can say and do the wrong thing. But I just don’t believe that he would attack Azealia Banks or call her the n-word or anything like that. Maybe I’m totally wrong about him, but he seems more like a bar-brawler than a woman-assaulter. Plus, Banks has this crazy history of making up sh-t, throwing violent tantrums and generally being a gigantic mess.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
A.B. needs help.
Too hard to spell her name?
Not saying Sullivan is a fan, but her fans often call her AB. So no need to be snarky.
@Loopy, you’re kidding right? Besides what Dominique said, we often abbreviate celebs name. I often say AJ as oppose to Angelina Jolie or BP for Brad Pit or RDJ for Robert Downey Jr.
I wouldn’t have guessed the spelling. Because I’d have spelled it like the flower – Azalea.
When social justice warrioring goes wrong.
I guess I need to stop using JD to refer to Johnny Depp or SJP for Sara Jessica Parker.
Unfamiliar with initials?
Haven’t had your coffee yet Loopy?
AB has some type of mental or emotional disorder – perhaps bipolar. She either needs to be on medication or is on too much medication. I’ve heard her sound extremely lucid, yet emotional and vulnerable without the aggression on a radio programme – but something happens at times when she either doesn’t take medication or perhaps takes some kind of elicit/illegal substance which exacerbates her moods, makes her hyper and aggressive.
It reminds me of what happens to Shia LeBeouf from time to time. Also Mel Gibson. Not saying Gibson still isn’t an antisemite, racist and sexist but without meds there’s no filter and the aggression comes right out.
These people have a mental/emotional disorder they can’t seem to get a good handle on.
Shia’s calm seems to go for longer periods than AB’s, but invariably like many suffering with a mental illness there are periods where a person thinks they’re fine and the medicine is not needed anymore – they also get convinced the medicine is making them feel not their authentic selves and so they stop taking it, and sometimes start boozing and/or drugging to get a handle instead. The symptoms come back with a vengeance eventually. The mental/emotional imbalance mixed with drugs and alcohol=holy terror.
As for Russell. I’m not surprised he took charge and tossed her himself. Her friend that Russell invited – who she was the +1 of (RZA) must secretly dislike Russell to have brought such a currently unstable person to a quiet dinner party. Maybe Russell wanted to meet her and was willing to take the risk. Russell’s friend says no n-words were thrown. I believe him.
Russell started his career playing nazis, lol but also played marginalized people (gay men) he’s also not entirely white himself- he’s part Maori on his Mom’s side. Not saying this makes you not racist, but it helps to make you not racist. I’ve been a fan for a while and I don’t see this happening.
I know producers that have worked with her and her team, and she is bipolar.
She is not currently being treated as she has fired almost everyone that has tried to work with her and get her help.
It is so so so sad because she is really talented but without help, she will just spiral.
None of this justifies misogynoir, and let us not pretend that Russell hasn’t been problematic for a long time. Also, the, ‘but 1/35 ethnic,’ argument is gross. Please don’t.
Perhaps she is bipoloar, but I’d bet money that she also has borderline personality disorder. Plus in the initial story, 4 witnesses (including her date) said that Russel did none of the assaulting, spitting or N-word calling that she claims. The “bear hug” from behind is exactly the way we (teachers and admin) are taught to restrain/remove a child who is having a violent outburst.
I agree that she’s emotionally and psychologically disturbed. I’m not sure how but it is sad because she has an original voice, the song ‘212’ has one of the catchiest beats ever and she has shown an understanding of composing original and fun rap music. It’s too bad she’s such a homophobe, racist, etc. I didn’t know for awhile until I actually read up on her and saw her behavior in the past year. I’m wondering also if she self medicates or drugs are in the picture? Her fluctuations seem very extreme even for someone with bipolar disorder. Sad she’s wasted her career away.
I don’t like her but her situation is sad and scary- she’s one of the ones who you wonder what will happen to some day. If it did happen though, you’re right that whatever roles he’s played and how white he is or isn’t definitely isn’t a justification.
I think RZA corroborating RC’s account makes me believe that version is closer to the truth.
Exactly. I’m with Russell on this one.
I’m with him too. Not just RZA but several of the guests. It’s terrible that she’s fabricating n-word throwing and spitting. I think there’s a special place in hell for people who make false claims of child abuse, battery, and racism.
She could have bipolar disorder with psychosis. They can be comorbid. And people with psychosis can definitely have paranoia/hallucinations resulting in the hearing/believing things which they fear the most, which could be racist attacks against her. Just a possibility.
True story. and, I think that AB just signed to RZA and for him to say that AB’s version isn’t necessarily what happen… he also said that AB is the one that used the N word, not RC.
Ugh its so sad to see someone with such talent waste it away – shes been given so many chances. Time for her to get the help she needs and leave public life for a while (or forever)…
[delete]
After her racist, homophobic rants and multiple public freak outs? Yeah no, Team Crowe.
I hope RZA apologized to Crowe. Who brings this woman as a plus one anywhere, let alone a friend’s private party?!
Maybe he thought RC would get on with her. He was great friends with Courtney Love at her worst. At her nuttiest he always called her a poet and a friend.
Courtney at her worst wasn’t as ridiculous as AB.
@Hannah
Hmmm. “Courtney at her worst?”
Ask Kurt Cobain.
Also, see ‘Soaked in Bleach,’ a mesmerizing shocking documentary about what really happened. Gives chills. Talk about ‘receipts? ‘
Girl.
Agreed it’s embarrassing for RZA and he should apologize. I believe Crowe’s version just because I don’t believe he’s ever attacked a woman and guests including RZA backed his version of events
First off, RZA is a superhero to me. All of the Wu are. I am not sure why he would risk his reputation by hanging around that toxic troll. I’m at the point where I was with Kim in the bath tub. I just don’t care what happens to her, I can’t believe her.
I heard a story that he’s signed her to a contract? Likely trying to get her career back on track so this was “networking”. However if he doesn’t give her an ultimatum to get mental health assistance he’s doing absolutely nothing good. If she won’t seek help he needs to cut her loose or risk his own reputation.
Yikes, he must really want to see her succeed to take that on. How many bridges can she burn?
“Violently unhinged lunatic” is exactly what she is. The girl really needs counselling and I hope she gets it before she does something irreversible. I believe RC.
Also blaming her behaviour on being a Gemini irks me to no end. I’m not a huge believer in horoscopes (my sister is) but I think assholes are assholes because they are assholes not because of the day they were born. FOH with that nonsense
TBH, I wonder if that might be some kind of warped recognition of her bi-polar disorder. There are so many traits associated with each sign that any sign fits just about anyone … what is interesting is which trait/s someone identifies as the trait/s that matches them. For example, even though I’m a total sceptic, and don’t believe in horoscopes at all, I still occasionally blame my indecisiveness on being a Libran. It’s just an excuse for a personality flaw. I wonder if Azealia is doing something similar here.
I’m hoping you’re not interlinking possible “bipolar” with “personality flaw” there.
I don’t know if the Piscean in me would take offence if that were the case, but the bipolar aspect of me would.
Same lucrezia.
Can’t there be both – a personality flaw and bipolar disorder? I know plenty of people who are bipolar or schizophrenic and still nice people – even when they go off their meds. They were not violent or combative before they were diagnosed, during, or after. They have problems distinquishing reality from what their mental illness might have them believe but they are not threatening, aggressive or hateful. IMO Banks is both mentally ill and a very hateful person.
@ Dippit: I said “something similar” not “the same thing”. Bipolar is a mental disorder. My indecisiveness is not extreme enough to classify as a mental disorder (Aboulomania), so I called it a personality flaw.
Let me rephrase: I wonder exactly which Gemini traits Banks was blaming for her behaviour: quick-witted, expressive, changeable, two-sides of personality, sociable, fun, serious, thoughtful, restless, indecisive, moody, irritable. And then (depending what she meant) wondering if perhaps those things would be better classified as symptoms of bipolar disorder.
Because people do similar things all the time. They blame external events for things that really have internal causes. The area of study is called locus of control. You can have a high locus of control (take personal credit for good things and blame for bad) or a low locus of control (tend to blame/credit external things like fate, luck or other people).
The example I happened to give was me blaming an external thing (star-sign) instead of an internal thing (personality flaw), compared to Banks blaming an external thing (star-sign) instead of an internal thing (bi-polar disorder). But that was only because I was using a personal star-sign example and trying to avoid psych jargon about locus of control. I wasn’t saying bi-polar is a personality flaw. I just meant it’s an internal thing, rather than an external one. Does that make more sense?
Thank you for the clarification Lucrezia, although, even were she to exhibit tendency towards attributing much poor behaviour via high locus of control, I would still struggle to excuse/reason much of said behaviour as merely a manifestation of her bipolar. Much rests with personality flaws which may well be, most likely, quite simply attributable to her own flaws in character – independent of both bipolar or her zodiac sign, as merely two examples.
I just can’t even.
Clearly, if it was down to her ‘sign’ I’d also be a violent asshat.
She’s mentally ill – but on top of that, she’s not a nice person. Bi-polar disorder isn’t going to make someone who is sweet and timid just suddenly become an absolute terror. Yes, the mania can cause agitation, and mood swings and the depression is there too – but it’s not going to completely re-write your personality. I think she’s just a person who has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder who also happens to be an entitled, arrogant, jerk.
+1
I agree with you Erin an asshole is an asshole no matter the star sign. I think she’s a terrible person and is also bipolar. But I know bipolar people who aren’t racist and combative at every opportunity. She needs help for sure but she firsts needs to admit to herself that her problems are far beyond a zodiac sign.
@erinn
I think yes and no. I have borderline personality disorder and an eating disorder and a bunch of other stuff and when they all act up I can turn into a raging bitch. I don’t think I’m a nasty person though. I feel bad and try to repair with people. I’m also very aware of my moods and work very hard to stay sane.
I know nothing about AB though. I just wanted to speak to my experience. She may be a complete asshat who knows.
This is the kind of situation when it would be helpful to have some credibility . The only reason I’m aware of this artist, are her antics. It’s a shame because it appears ( from what ive read ) despite it all she’s talented.
My guess is that Azealia is used to people cowering in fear when she throws one of her many fits, but she met her match in Russel Crowe who refused to take her crap and threw her out. I also believe that she’s going to try to ride this as long as she can because this is a prime opportunity for her to become “relevant.” It’s been a while since anyone has heard from her and she no longer has Twitter to use as a tool to get press and attention.
RZA is too smart to be running around with her. Maybe he’s trying to help her, but I hope he cuts ties because she is toxic.
The only “receipts” she has are the voices in her head.
Sadly, that may be the actual truth.
She seems like she needs to be put on psychotropic medication ASAP. Either that, or a lengthy stay in a psychiatric facility. She sounds like she is going to crash and burn spectacularly one of these days.
Her management or somebody should have stepped in years ago. She has serious mental issues that shouldn’t be played out in public. She is much more talented than her peers but it’s nothing compared to her inner demons.
Yes, it’s sad to see that there isn’t someone willing to get her the help she needs. probably to many people using her instead of actually being a friend.
It’s hard with adults though. Unless you’re an immediate danger to yourself or others, there’s not much that can be done unless they WANT to get help.
When she went on her racist rant about Zayn Malik, she thought she was the victim then too and that Twitter only banned her because everyone was out to get her. So it’s not a surprise to me that she thinks she’s the victim in situations like this. However, someone needs to explain to her, that she isn’t a victim and acting out, saying slurs etc have consequences and when those consequences are handed out for her actions, she’s not a “victim.”
But see…if she always plays victim, then she never has to be responsible for her horrific behavior. She needs to sit down & own her sh*t.
She’s never going to though because of the sympathy she’s garnered for being bipolar. Even on this thread, she has people making excuses for her behavior because she’s bipolar. She may very well be, but she’s also a violent racist asshat. Nobody will do anything until she maims or kills someone. And even then, she’ll ride the mental illness train for all it’s worth.
It is kind of weird to see how Russell Crowe isn’t doubted in this story considering his hellraising ways.
I don’t know that much about her, excepting what I read on here, but apparantly she has burned a lot of bridges.
Look at her Wikipedia page under “altercations” and you’ll see why people aren’t rushing to defend her. She’s the one known for biting and bigoted slurs.
Russell Crowe’s last known incident was *11 years ago* ELEVEN. And according to the quotes on his Wikipedia page he seems ashamed of his past. Azealia Banks’s incidents are much more recents, and instead of showing any sort of remorse or shame she seems to doubling down. IDK…I think it’s very likely, that Russell might have got help. (There’s also the possibility that he hasn’t and just hides it better)
Azealia, despite stating on twitter she’s bi-polar, has shown little to no self awareness and shows no sign of getting help.
#TeamRussell TBH
i would wait to see the alleged receipts before being team russell tbh. given his past, i wouldn’t necessarily assume she’s lying. she can be someone who needs help and he could have got violent with her, both things could be true.
IIRC, she’s made up incidents like this before–accusing someone of attacking her and going on a racist rant on a plane, when she was the one attacking the person and ranting at them. (Someone correct me if I’m mistaken.)
That said, I’m going to wait to see what happens with the police investigation. Just because someone is troubled and has a sketchy past, that doesn’t mean they’re immune to violence. In fact, I’d say she’s particularly vulnerable, because people know she’s not likely to be believed.
For all we know, maybe he did get violent with her once he escorted her off the premises when no one else was there to witness it. *shrugs*. However, Azealia is like the girl who cried wolf though. Hard to believe her after awhile.
It was a hotel. Security guards were called during the incident and came to escort her off the property. The hotel has the evidence (who it will support is yet to be seen) in the form of video footage of hallways/corridors, which all hotels record. Except of course the Kimye hotel, who mysteriously has no video cameras.
I believe she needs to be committed like Amanda Bynes.
More so.
Amanda Bynes never really seemed like a hazard to others.
She was a general public nuisance, harmful to herself. Banks is in a different league.
Whatever. I’m a Gemini and not a raving violent lunatic. #girlbye
So is my brother and he is the sweetest, gentlest man.
But some people need something to latch on to… ‘The stars made me do it’ is a new one though.
I’ll believe the receipts when I see them.
i wrote yesterday i have a hard time believing RC stayed calm, because… RC. come on, we can’t assume he wouldn’t get violent with a woman because it never happened before *that we know of*, obviously he does get violent so who knows. not saying she’s telling the truth, but she says she has receipts, fine, let’s see them.
I’m not picking a team because I’m honestly not even remotely that invested in this – but I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when even the man who invited her to this party is saying she’s lying. He also has addressed his behavior in the past as unacceptable and something he is ashamed of – and so far we haven’t had any (known) repeats of that sort of behavior. Supposedly he’s taken up knitting to help manage stress/anger which is kind of hilarious, but hey – if it works, I guess.
I’m also willing to believe that SHE BELIEVES that what she’s saying happened – but that doesn’t make it true. The woman needs help.
I’m not picking a team yet either because on the one hand, she’s an untrustworthy racist with no accountability and a ticking time bomb, but on the other hand, that doesn’t make what she’s saying impossible. We’ll see.
She seems very troubled. I hope she gets help.
RC is no angel, but I don’t see how he did anything wrong here. In fact, he likely prevented things from getting worse.
+1
Mental illness is very real! Pchycotic, bipolar and schizophrenic episodes are very real!
But if she, herself, claims to be bipolar, why has she not addressed it? Been treated for it? Why no medication? Why no self-awareness. Sounds like a justification to act a fool to me. Unless she’s doing something about being bipolar, she can’t just use it as an excuse nor should others use it as an excuse for her. I’m not sure I even believe she is bipolar just because she says so. But if she is and she knows she is, she shouldn’t be at this stage this far past being diagnosed.
Never thought I’d say this with an incident involving Russel Crowe, but she should be charged with wasting police time. Perhaps this would also compel her to deal with her mental health issues.
What’s undisputed is that he physically removed her for things she said, I don’t think that he’s allowed to put his hands her, he should’ve had security do that but it sounds like he lost control. I think he’s banking on the things she said being interpreted as death threats, not sure if she said them in a tongue in cheek or sarcastic way though.
I do feel for her, and people like Shia. I feel like maybe these are people on the spectrum, who are living in a very public and social/Hollywood atmosphere and that can be incredibly stressful. Combine that with the rampant drug use in hw, and that people on the spectrum can use drugs to self medicate for emotional problems, and every so often they will have public meltdowns.
It may be hard for Azalia to know when her honesty is charming vs offensive, and she may choose to just be blunt all the time in an effort to win over as many people as possible. She should just not try as hard and let people get to know her through their own efforts.
If she’s saying ”You would love it if I broke my glass, stabbed you guys in the throat, and blood would squirt everywhere like some real Tarantino s***.” , and had raised her glass to insinuate that she was going to use it to do just that – she could have been very close to a guest at the time. Maybe it was quicker for him to simply ‘wrap her up’ and remove her. As long as he didn’t use any more force than necessary – I’d think he’d be in the clear. Once he removed her from the room, he supposedly called hotel security – which seems reasonable to me.
If I had someone in my hotel room saying that kind of thing, and raising the glass that she’d already said she could use to cut myself and other guests? I’m not going to sit around and wait for security. I’m not going to jump the woman and attack her – but if she’s an immediate threat, I don’t think there’s an issue with removing her from the room.
The problem is we assume that Shia and her could be on the spectrum. Unless there’s a diagnosis, I don’t think it’s fair to assume that. I mean, a lot of the times we try to rationalize why people do what people do – but so often it gets armchair diagnosed as someone having autism traits, or bipolar disorder, or what have you – and that just harms the people who ACTUALLY have those things. It’s like saying “oh her behavior is because of this. She’s acting this way BECAUSE of the disorder”. when in reality – there are a lot of people who are just awful people. It’s not a mutually exclusive thing, of course – you can be an awful person and be autistic, or mentally ill. But when we wrap up bad behavior into a diagnosis – it’s not doing any favors for the people who genuinely have gotten that diagnosis and who are nothing like that.
She says she’s BI-POLAR. That’s not “on the spectrum”. It’s tiresome to read internet diagnosis of people’s bad behavior. Even if she had Autism/Aspbergers, it does not go hand-in-hand with violent behavior.
She’s proven time and time again she has issues that may or may not be psychologically related. Sometimes an asshole is just an asshole.
AB needs serious help and the fact that she is an adult and completely self destructive makes it hard for her to get it. I think anyone with half a temper dealing with someone like her would have lost it. She definitely deserved to be thrown out, but things may have been more aggressive than what people want to believe. I would hope Crowe wouldn’t intentionally hurt her or turn to slurs, but it’s hard being gentle with someone who is completely out of control. It is possible that if she got hurt it would have been from him trying to get her out and her fighting back.
If you threaten to kill/harm someone and then proceed to pretend to break a glass to produce shrads of it, then I don’t care if someone has to hurl you in order to prevent you from harming others.
This woman needs help. Russell Crowe is no saint but she is definitely messed up-
Well…geminis be trippin’, that’s no lie. 😉
RC’s account is believable and supported by witnesses. Seems pretty clear cut to me.
Speculationwise, maybe RZA brought her to chat with RC, who has had similar problems on a smaller scale, as a means of helping her.
She sounds paranoid and in need of intervention… And unlikely to agree to help. What a sad situation.
I do not condemn nor condone the behaviour of either party but I’m a woman of colour with a mental health history and have some perspective.
While I have never found myself in the same position as AB, I can empathize with her victim complex. Spend your entire life being marginalized and your coping mechanisms start to overcompensate. I’ve seen this amongst other WOC (family members included) who are defensive and aggressive as a result of being targeted all their lives and when they finally hit this point of dysfunction they are carted off to a mental institution and pumped full of pills so er never have to acknowledge their experience.
Dismissed for being a creative talent.
Dismissed for being a woman.
Dismissed for being dark skinned.
Dismissed for being angry for being mislabeled.
You’re hypersensitive to your injustice? React like a stressed out person to a stressful situation? Give them the Francis Farmer treatment.
Life as a WOC is a balancing act of being non threatening enough to be considered part of society but strong enough to stand your ground without offending anyone. I find myself regularly exhausted navigating this dynamic and I’m a light skinned mixed raced woman in Canada nowhere near the public eye. I’m living the easiest version of this strain.
I feel for all the parties involved but how convenient for RC that being a white person and a man gives him permission to act with authority over another person in a way not accessible to the visibly ethnic.
Thank you for sharing this. The angry Black woman trope is exhausting, and people are so quick with it.
It’s sad that this woman is not given the same benefit of doubt as say Amber Heard or Angelina or even Kim K… I wonder why?
Despite her past antics (and admittantly there are MANY) people with behavior / mental disorders can be abused and taken advantage of as well. Oftentimes even more so because, hey, who would believe a raging lunatic, right???
I don’t care how many people cooraborated his story, wouldn’t it be prudent to wait until all the “receipts” are provided before rushing to judgement? After all, these are high profile people with a lot of assets to protect But why even question that when we are dealing with a known troublemaking, rabble rousting troll…. right?
SMH…
I believe her and hope she’ll watch for herself cause everything done to her is fair game apparently.
Was she a party favor here?