The Bernie Sanders-Azealia Banks Feud You’ve Been Waiting For Has Arrived
It was bound to happen.
Vermont senator Bernie Sanders is a snowy-haired, firebrand grandpa grumpily taking on America’s banks, taxes, and social systems.
Azealia Banks is a quicksilver, hyper-sexual, socially radical rapper known for erratic behavior, hot-headed internet fighting, and, once, claiming to have lurked inside of Elon Musk’s house for days.
It was inevitable that these two would clash. The question was not “if,” but “how much popcorn should we bring?”
On Thursday, Sanders posted a message to Instagram, with the caption, “We all must stand together to reject Trump’s bigotry.” The content of the post was pretty standard Sanders-ian anti-Trump fare, accusing the president of racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, and religious bigotry. These all seem (despite some of Banks’ own xenophobic scandals) like messages that would resonate with the “212” rapper.
But we must never underestimate Azealia Banks’ ability to feud. Her delivery is not delicate, and she’s pretty off-base when you consider Sanders’ long history of anti-racism work, but she does make some excellent points:
Yes, the unlikelihood of this match-up is obscenely delightful. But honestly, for all Banks’ foibles (and Sanders’, too,) they’re both great minds. They’re both passionate. They’re dialogue is interesting.
Here are some ways we’d like to see it continue:
-A formal debate, moderated by Robin Roberts
-A format exchange where Sanders raps and Banks gives a speech on the Senate floor
-A series of short, highly edited YouTube videos
-A hip-hop opera written by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.
If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.
Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO