Twitter suspends rapper Azealia Banks after racist abuse of Zayn Malik

witter on Thursday suspended the provocative rapper Azealia Banks after she went a step too far by launching racist attacks on former One Direction heartthrob Zayn. The Twitter account of @AZEALIABANKS returned a message saying that it was suspended with a link to the service’s conditions, which lists “abusive tweets and behavior” as a reason for temporary removal.

My @’s too good for you.

Zayn kept a distance from Banks, telling her in Twitter lingo that he had seen her remarks and chose not to take the bait

The New York artist has been long been a controversial and prolific presence on Twitter, attacking fellow rappers — notably Iggy Azalea — and once urging the burning down of homes of ancestors of slave traders. But she appeared to cross a line late Tuesday when she used epithets related to Muslims to attack Zayn, whom she accused of copying her style. Banks, in a fresh tweet on Wednesday, reiterated her accusations about Zayn’s music and cast her remarks about Muslims as a gesture of solidarity. "He felt as if he was too good to acknowledge me yet not too good to copy my creativity,“ she wrote.

I had to remind him that we’re both in the same boat in this industry and people of color.

Banks

Azealia Banks