Organisers of a music festival in Pittsburgh have been forced to defend their decision to book Iggy Azalea following a backlash from protesters.
The Australian rapper is due to headline Pittsburgh Pridefest on 13 June, a decision that has proved controversial with LGBT activists who claim the rapper has made racist and homophobic comments online in the past.
Those tweets, posted before Azalea was famous and since deleted, include messages such as: “Just saw 5 black men get arrested out the front of popeyes. #damn #stereotypes” and “When guys whisper in each others ears I always think its kinda homo”. Following their discovery, Azalea defended the tweets, saying they were only meant for friends and family to see.
Despite the controversy, organisers of the festival have defended their booking decision. The Delta Foundation told the Pittsburgh City Paper: “If we believed that Iggy Azalea was racist or homophobic, we certainly would not have selected her to headline Pittsburgh Pride. We also don’t believe she would have agreed to come if she was racist or homophobic.”
Billed as “the premiere LGBT community festival in Pennsylvania”, last year the festival featured performances from Adam Lambert, Patti LaBelle and Chaka Khan. However, critics have claimed the festival does not cater for people from diverse backgrounds. A protester’s Facebook group states: “There is little to no evidence of Delta advocating for anybody but affluent cis gay white men.”
