Music

Azealia Banks Posted A Video Where She Digs Up And ‘Cooks’ Her Dead Cat

Well.

by Jared Richards  13 January 2021
Azealia Banks appears to cook her dead cat in Instagram video

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Azealia Banks has posted and subsequently deleted a graphic Instagram where she exhumes her dead cat from her backyard and ‘cooks’ it in a black stew, as a way to preserve its bones.

— Warning: The following story contains graphic content. — 

The rapper posted a set of three videos to her Instagram grid on Tuesday in which she could be seen digging up a bag with her cat Lucifer’s remains in it while singing. In the third video, the cat’s bones and skull float through a bubbling black stew on a stovetop, as Azealia stirs with a wooden spoon.

“Lucifer 2009-2020,” she wrote in the caption. “My dear kitty. Thank you for everything. A legend. An icon. Forever a serval serve.”

While the post’s since been deleted, you can watch it via screengrab below. Be warned, it’s graphic.

Instantly, reaction was one of horror, as viewers wondered whether she was cooking her cat to eat it — before long, her name was trending on Twitter.

Others questioned whether this was part of a ritual, as Banks previously made headlines in 2016 for a post showing a bloodied closet where she claimed to have performed sacrifices for three years.

“Real witches do real things”, she said in the 2017 video, before sanding down the floor which was adorned with bloodied chicken feathers. She’s regularly posted about practicing witchcraft since.

In a follow-up on her Instagram stories, Banks filmed her cat’s skull in a basket next to Chanel No. 5, a bottle of Veuve, a crucifix and various other items, stating that she was ready for her move from Los Angeles to Miami.

Azealia Banks’ Instagram story, 13 January 2021.

With this context, it can be assumed she was preserving her cat’s remains to be able to transport it across the US, rather than abandon it in her backyard.

Still, users were pretty shocked by the original video: naturally, they began making jokes.

Others went to defend Banks, saying that preserving an animal’s body isn’t necessarily that bizarre, even if the DIY approach/posting it online could be.

In 2017, Banks responded to vegan Sia calling her sacrifices ‘wack’ by asking her to have some respect for her ‘traditional African religion’.

Banks is, of course, no stranger to controversy.

In the past year, she has repeatedly made transphobic comments, called Kesha’s sexual assault allegations against Banks’ collaborator Dr. Luke a lie, and, on a lighter note, has recently posted about how she is never sleeping in a bed again, after finding the floor more comfortable.

A few days ago, Banks released ‘Six Flags’ featuring Slim Dollars. Listen below.