| Zachary Johnson 9. Juni 2015 – 04:36
Iggy Azalea will no longer perform during Pittsburgh Pride this weekend.
The “Pretty Girls” rapper made the announcement on Twitter Monday after receiving criticism from the LGBTQ community over tweets she had previously posted that were seen as homophobic. Pittsburgh City Council president Bruce Kraus, the city’s first openly gay elected official, criticized Azalea, 25, and a few groups canceled their appearances in protest over her appearance at the Pride in the Street concert.
“I am truly disappointed that I have to share this news, but I will no longer be performing at Pittsburgh Pride on June 13th,” Azalea wrote. “This has been a difficult decision as I truly support the event and LGBTIQA communities however if eel my participation at this point would only serve to further distract from the true purpose of the event.”
The rapper continued, “I am a firm believer in equality. Unfortunately in the past as a young person, I used words I should not have. The last thing I want is for something so carelessly said to be interpreted as reflective of my character. I meant to no harm and deeply regret ever uttering those words. As an adult I would never use them because I understand they play a detrimental role in the fight for issues that I do truly believe in. I am sorry to anyone I have offended or disappointed & I wish all my fans and friends participating in Pride the best of luck.”
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The news came 10 days after Azalea canceled her Great Escape tour. The “Fancy” rapper—who got engaged to Nick Young on his 30th birthday—explained that decision to Seventeen, saying, “I’ve had a different creative change of heart. I want to start totally anew, and if I stayed on my tour, that would mean I wouldn’t even be able to start working on that until after Christmas. On top of that, mentally, to be honest with you, I just feel I deserve a break. I’ve been going non-stop for the past two years, nearly every single day. I’m not in a bad place. I think sometimes when you say you need a mental break, people are like, ‘A mental break? Be sure you don’t have a breakdown because you’re sad.’ No, not necessarily.” Azalea added, “It’s very emotionally draining to be on all the time and going all the time, planning all the time. It’s a lot, and it’s tough. I need a break from everything to just enjoy what I worked so hard for, and I don’t really feel like I’ve had a chance to do that. I need a break to figure out what I want my sound to progress to, and I need a break to figure out how I want my visuals to progress.”
Azalea knew people might be skeptical about her decision. “There are people thinking it’s me giving up, or me failing at something, somehow. I said to a friend the other day, ‘The only reason why at this point I would stay and do this tour is to save face publicly, or to not endure publicly what people will say if I cancel it,’ and that’s not a good enough reason to do something. So that’s the choice I made.”
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