--- description: Azealia Banks has extended an open apology after unleashing a barrage of incendiary, racially-charged tweets at Zayn Malik last week. title: Azealia Banks Apologizes For Racist Tweets About Zayn Malik image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt781fe6eea1ff307c/69889346196cf457da03b9c1/gettyimages-473018650.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Azealia Banks Apologizes For Her Racist Tweets About Zayn Malik by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 16, 2016 9:26 AM CUT  Azealia Banks performs at Irving Plaza on May 11, 2015 in New York City. Azealia Banks performs at Irving Plaza on May 11, 2015 in New York City.Taylor Hill—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close May 16, 2016 9:26 AM CUT Azealia Banks has extended an open apology after unleashing a barrage of incendiary, racially-charged tweets at former One Direction member Zayn Malik last week. “Employing racial/sexual slurs/stereotypes in attempts to make fun of or degrade another person or group is absolutely unacceptable and is not fair or fun for anyone,” Banks wrote in a screenshot of a block of text that she posted to her Instagram account on Sunday. The “slurs/stereotypes” she “employed” — she called Malik, who is of Pakistani descent, a “curry-scented bitch” — came after Malik apparently disdained Banks’ suggestion that he plagiarized her ideas in the music video for his track “Like I Would.” Banks is a [veteran](http://time.com/4327255/azealia-banks-zayn-malik-fight-controversy-rants-troll-twitter/?iid=sr-link3 "undefined") at creating controversy online and off, but this appears to have been the final straw for many fans, and also for Twitter, which has suspended her account. The comments section of her Instagram post suggests that many are still raw despite the apology. “You’re a waste of a soul,” one user wrote. Another ventured that the post was “just a PR move.” Banks later posted a second screenshot attempting to justify her pejorative use of the phrase “curry-scented,” saying it was simply “some dumb nyc joke about cabs smelling like curry.” “I personally really enjoy curry and cook with it often,” she wrote. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4336734/azealia-banks-zayn-malik-twitter-tweets-apology/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4336734/azealia-banks-zayn-malik-twitter-tweets-apology/"},"headline":"Azealia Banks Apologizes For Her Racist Tweets About Zayn Malik","datePublished":"2016-05-16T09:26:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T17:33:41.849Z","description":"\"Employing racial/sexual slurs/stereotypes ... is absolutely unacceptable,\" Banks wrote","url":"https://time.com/4336734/azealia-banks-zayn-malik-twitter-tweets-apology/","keywords":["celebrities","Music","One Direction"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt781fe6eea1ff307c/69889346196cf457da03b9c1/gettyimages-473018650.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt781fe6eea1ff307c/69889346196cf457da03b9c1/gettyimages-473018650.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Azealia Banks In Concert - New York, NY","caption":"Azealia Banks In Concert - New York, NY","creditText":"Taylor Hill—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4336734/azealia-banks-zayn-malik-twitter-tweets-apology/","name":"Azealia Banks Apologizes For Her Racist Tweets About Zayn Malik"}}]}] ```