Singer Azealia Banks announced on Wednesday that she cancelled two of her performances after organisers had asked her to make anti-Israel statements on stage.

This week, singer Azealia Banks announced on X that she has pulled out of two events in the UK – Boomtown and Maiden Voyage – stating that the organisers relentlessly pressured her to express support for Palestine while promoting her scheduled appearance.

„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 organisers 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 sympathise 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 criticised 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 organisers expressed their „shock” at the band’s behaviour in a statement, declaring: „Their slogans crossed the line, and we urgently remind everyone involved in organising the festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech, or incitement to violence.”