As y’all know by now, Azealia Banks has found herself in hot (read: boiling) water for the slew of racial slurs she tweeted yesterday. Responding to the release of Zayn Malik’s new cyberdoggy video for “Like I Would,” Banks took to social media to call the ex-boybander out for supposedly borrowing certain tropes from her own “Yung Rapunxel” video. Not one for speaking his mind on Twitter (I jest), Malik refused to engage with the “212” singer directly, which prompted a now deleted string of messages, each more offensive than the last.
What happened next, though, was truly amazing. Banding together, reclaiming their identity, and empowering themselves through what can only be described as a crime of hate, South Asian tweeters turned Banks’ comments on their head. Soon the #curryscentedbitch hashtag was trending, accompanied by a slew of selfies. “I think there are a lot of stigmas around not only Indian women, but also women in general,” says London-based makeup artist Kaushal Beauty, who was one of the first to adopt the hashtag, “It was great to see so many strong Indian women come together after hearing what Azealia Banks had to say. I think it’s very clear to see that we as Indians are not curry-scented b*tches. Oh, And for the record, curry is life!” Word. Take a look at rest of Twitter’s reaction here.
Credits
Text Tish Weinstock
Images via Twitter