Rapper Azealia Banks physically attacked a French couple and used a homophobic slur against a flight attendant during a meltdown while passengers were getting off a Delta Airlines airplane at Los Angeles International Airport early Tuesday morning.
The Delta flight from New York to Los Angeles landed shortly before 1 a.m. when the 24-year-old singer tried to bolt the plane before the couple in front of her could get their overhead luggage, witnesses on the flight told
TMZ.
Banks spit in the man's face, punched him and clawed at his shirt, said TMZ.
"At that point we're told the flight attendant grabbed Azealia's bag and told her to calm down," said TMZ, which posted a profanity-laced video of some of the action. "She lost her balance, fell to the seat, stood up and then a tug-of-war over the luggage ensued. This is where the video begins. Azealia demands to take her bag and leave, and eventually calls the flight attendant a 'f***ing f***ot' -- a homophobic slur."
The
New York Daily News said police confronted Banks in the airport's baggage claim area but the couple declined to file charges because they wanted to pursue their vacation without further interruption.
Banks, though, continued to talk about the incident on social media, attempting to defend her actions on Twitter and claiming it was the couple who started the altercation.
"Ok so I get hit in the face by a man and no one cares. The (sic) only hear what I called the man who was blocking my exit," she wrote in a Twitter post that was later deleted.
"I don't care. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I don't tolerate b----a--ness and I don't tolerate men putting their hands on me," she added in another deleted tweet before
temporarily making her account private.
After receiving criticism for using the homophobic slur, Banks tried to defend herself when the Twitter account became public again.