Protesters Stage Die-In At Iggy Azalea’s Concert At USC; Azalea Responds
Last night, quite a few protests took place around the country well into the early morning to protest the grand jury’s decision not to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo for fatally choking Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York in July. Such protests followed the ones that took place last week for Mike Brown, which shut down highways, bridges, shopping malls and more. Last night, a group of protesters actually took to the streets to make their voices heard at an Iggy Azalea concert. They say that the protest was not really about her though, but about the non-indictment of Officer Daniel Pantaleo.
According to KTLA, protesters planned to do a massive die-in at Bovard Auditorium on USC’s campus on Thursday night, where the concert was taking place. About 200 people reportedly signed up to take part. The Facebook invitation reads like this:
“Are you frustrated with the biased and inaccurate portrayal of people of color in the media? Are you tired of feeling like the plight of our people is not taken seriously? Are you angry that police are constantly getting away with murder and profiting off the loss of black lives?
There may be cameras on them but that has not stopped them from innocently walking away from their crimes. The cameras should be on US so WE can have our voices heard. Iggy Azalea will performing in Bovard at 8pm. Like her or not, she has garnered attention and fame for appropriating Black culture. This is our opportunity to take her platform and help bring attention to much more important issues.”
In the end, though 193 said they went, KTLA claimed video showed that only a few dozen people showed up. In the end though, those who organized the protest at the concert were happy with the message they were able to send to the many students and fans who showed up for Azalea’s show:
“THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SUPPORTED AND/OR PARTICIPATED IN THIS EVENT!! Because of you, we got a strong message to a lot of people and I believe it will spark positive change!! You are so appreciated.”
Azealea has been accused of appropriating black culture for some time now, but things got ugly this week after the Eric Garner decision. Rapper Azealia Banks heavily criticized her on Twitter, as well as other artists who appropriate black culture but don’t use their platform to say something when injustices happen to black people (Banks herself was livid about the grand jury’s decision). Banks had a lot to say, but some of her main statements included:
“it’s funny to see people Like Igloo Australia silent when these things happen… Black Culture is cool, but black issues sure aren’t huh?”
“If you’re down to ride with us b***h you gotta RIDE ALL THE WAY.” She would go on to say, “Don’t just be down to ride Black D**k…If you with us you WITH US.”
“Igloo Australia” ended up trending on Twitter, while Iggy Azalea responded by saying, “we’ve all read the script 49584068408540 billion times now, find a new game plan.” But she would later go on to encourage those criticizing her, as well as fans, to protest. She also shared a link to some “ACTUAL PRODUCTIVE WAYS YOU CAN HELP.” As she put it, “Theres more to sparking a change than trolling on social media. World issues shouldn’t be used as a poor excuse to promote fan battles.”
But when “change” came to her concert in the hopes of shutting it down, Banks felt some type of way about it. One fan pointed out one protester who said “I didn’t even plan this sh*t. I didn’t know she existed until today. I just want to shut sh*t down…#BringTheProtestToThePeople.” When Iggy’s fan criticized that person, she jumped in:
So what do you think of the choice of protesters to demonstrate at Azalea’s show? And what are your thoughts on the new wave of appropriation criticism she’s been getting lately?
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