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RZA rejects Azealia Banks’ version of the altercation in Russell Crowe’s hotel suite

RZA says he saw Azealia Banks act like "an obnoxious erratic individual" in Russell Crowe's hotel suite.
(Michael Zorn / Associated Press)
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Wow, remind us not to talk trash about RZA.

The rapper and music producer washed his hands of Azealia Banks on Thursday, rejecting her version of what went down Saturday night between her and Russell Crowe and announcing that despite her recent claim to the contrary, no record deal had been signed.

“Seeing is believing and I saw her behave as an obnoxious erratic individual and in the circles I frequent this was unprecedented,” said RZA, real name Robert Diggs, in a scathing post on Facebook.

On Saturday night, Banks had accused Crowe, 52, of choking her, spitting on her and calling her by a racial slur as he ejected her from a small dinner party in his suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel, where she was RZA’s guest.

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Banks, 25, filed an incident report Sunday with the Beverly Hills Police Department, and in a subsequent interview with TMZ said she was only joking around during the party — witnesses told the website she’d threatened to stab them with a broken glass — and that men with “bruised egos” had been trying to put her in her place. RZA just stood there “like a chump” when she was being tossed out of the room, she said.

Before the night is over Azealia is insulting half the room. ... There was nothing funny about her behavior.

— RZA, talking about Azealia Banks’ behavior in Russell Crowe’s hotel suite

“Azealia’s recent slander of me and self victimization reflect’s the personality of the person that was in that room that night,” RZA wrote online Thursday after saying he wished only the best for her “and any struggling artist in this complex industry.”

He explained that despite her reputation preceding her, he’d had a smooth professional experience with her while filming “Coco” and recently had gotten a friend to offer her a record deal after she hit him up for some help. “The only clause my buddy gave,” he wrote, “was I be the filter because the word is ‘she is volatile.’” He said he flew her to L.A. to work and put her up in a hotel, at her request.

On Saturday, RZA said he and Banks were having a meeting at the hotel’s Polo Lounge and he invited her to spend time with him and his friend Crowe, with Crowe’s permission.

“Before the night is over Azealia is insulting half the room she becomes loud and obnoxious. There was nothing funny about her behavior. I felt a little embarrassed because she was my guest,” RZA wrote.

“Still verbal abuse can be tolerated but when it goes physical… Azealia threaten to cut a girl in the face with a glass, then actually grabs a glass and physically attacks for no logical reason,” he continued. “Russell blocked the attack and expelled her from the suite.”

He said the incident had nothing to do with gender or race and that he did not hear the Oscar winner call Banks the N-word, as she had alleged.

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“I have a wife, daughters, sisters and females on my staff so I protect women everyday,” RZA concluded. “I pray none of them ever behave the way I witnessed Azealia Banks behaved that night.”

On her end, Banks spoke out to her fans via Instagram on Tuesday, asking them to tweet about her with the hashtag #makeazealiagreatagain and vowing to focus only on her music moving forward.

“These past few days have been rough ...,” she wrote. “Although this situation was beyond my control, I promise you all that This is the LAST time I will be in the news for anything negative. … Somewhere along the way the I got sucked into this neverending war with the media that I quite honestly don’t have the energy, patience, or care to keep fighting. I GIVE UP! And I Give In.”

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ.

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