Polarizing hip-hop star Iggy Azalea has quit Twitter, at least temporarily, following nasty social media commentary on her physical appearance in a bikini in several paparazzi photos surreptitiously taken of her while she was vacationing in Hawaii with her boyfriend, Los Angeles Laker Nick Young.
But I also want to let my fans know iam taking some time away from social media. I need to be happy and it is too negative and draining.
— IGGY AZALEA (@IGGYAZALEA) February 19, 2015The 24-year-old hitmaker unleashed a series of tweets expressing her exasperation at the body-shaming she endured.
“Just got back from a great vacation, came online and saw apparently it’s shocking and unheard of to be a woman and have cellulite. Lol,” Azalea wrote. “I just want to have peace and relaxation time without a perve [sic] with long distance lense [sic] hiding out taking pictures, everyone deserves peace.”
Citing the “hatred and pettiness” of some members of the online community, Azalea said she was taking a break from social media and that her staff would manage her accounts from now on.
After a sign-off thank you to fans, Azalea tweeted, “The Internet is the ugliest reflection of man kind there is.”
This far from the first public squabble the “Fancy” rapper has been drawn into with her detractors. She has had major spats with fellow rappers like Snoop Dogg — who in a series of tweets last fall compared the Australian-born rapper to the whiteface characters played by Marlon and Shawn Wayans in the 2004 big screen comedy “White Chicks” — and Nicki Minaj, a rival and contemporary, was widely believed to be calling out Azalea’s lack of authenticity during a 2014 BET Awards speech.
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And Azalea got into a high profile social media battle with black rapper Azealia Banks over the white rapper’s lack of response to protests in the wake of police-related deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, both of whom are African-American.
Banks accused Azalea of co-opting black culture without appreciating it, a frequent criticism levied against the T.I. protege.
“Its funny to see people Like Igloo Australia silent when these things happen … Black Culture is cool, but black issues sure aren’t huh?” tweeted Banks. The derogatory nickname “Igloo Australia” soon became a trending topic.
There was also widespread criticism in the hip-hop community when Azalea was nominated for the prestigious Best Rap Album award at this year’s Grammys for her album “The New Classic” alongside more traditional rap artists.
Ironically, she wound up losing the award to another controversial white rapper, Eminem.
Adam Howard