Azealia Banks Launches GoFundMe To Sue Russell Crowe For Allegedly Attacking Her

Rapper Azealia Banks has launched a $100,000 GoFundMe in the hopes of raising enough money to pursue a lawsuit against Russell Crowe, who she alleges attacked her at a party in 2016.

The GoFundMe page, which was launched on June 24 and appears to be written by Banks herself, clarifies that any excess funds raised from the project that does not go toward her legal fees will be donated to environmental charities.

"Russell Crowe spit on me at a party in 2016 and denied it, had a group of people gaslight me causing irreparable damage to my acting career and my reputation as well as loads of emotional damage," the page reads. "This isn’t about a big pay day for me, it’s about letting the world know that black women are victims to the same sort of disgusting violence men in Hollywood deal out to women and it’s important to send a message that black women also deserve justice and will get justice in these situations."

The incident Banks is referring to allegedly occurred in November of that year at a hotel suite in Beverly Hills, Calif. Banks said in since-deleted social media posts that the rapper RZA had invited her to a party, at which Crowe allegedly spit on and choked Banks after using racial slurs.

RZA later said in a Facebook post that Banks had become "loud and obnoxious" before threatening to "cut a girl in the face with a glass," at which point Crowe intervened.

Banks had filed a battery report with police at the time. The L.A. County D.A.'s office found that Crowe's actions were "incidental to preventing more serious threatened violence," according to TMZ.

In October of 2017, almost a year after the incident, RZA made additional statements on the incident, which appeared to contradict his first comments on the altercation. In an interview with The Breakfast Club, RZA said that Crowe, in fact, did spit on Banks.

A press release sent to The Fader from RZA's spokesperson went on to claim that "Ms. Banks reputation precedes her, RZA hasn’t and does not want to further embarrass Banks and stands by not revealing all of the details at this time. In fact, after the incident, concerned about her welfare, RZA made sure she made it back to her hotel safely."

[Photo: Azealia Banks by Taylor Hill / Getty Images]