Following a wild month of allegations after Azealia Banks claims she was stranded at one of Elon Musk’s California properties, including speculation on his sex life, claims he tweeted while on acid, an accusation that his attorneys took her phone to delete evidence and conflicting statements on whether she actually met Musk in person, it appears Banks’ Instagram and Twitter accounts have either been removed or suspended.
It is unclear to what degree Bank’s Instagram account was removed by Banks herself or by Instagram itself. But visiting Bank’s former Instagram page only brought up a message saying her account “isn’t available”:
Updated 5:00 p.m.: Instagram confirmed to Jalopnik that it did not remove Banks’ account.
Updated 11:50 p.m.: Banks’ Instagram account appears to be back, putting up a string of posts within the last hour announcing tour dates and locations on both the main account and the Instagram story. As of right now, her Twitter account seems to still be suspended. The article continues as originally published below.
If you head over to Banks’ Twitter, @cheapyxo, which became her main account after a previous suspension in 2016 for racially charged tweets against singer Zayn Malik, you’re redirected to Twitter’s “account suspended” page. Her account had also previously been temporarily suspended again in June of 2018.
Jalopnik reached out to Banks’ agent, who declined to comment on the possible suspension of her social media accounts. Jalopnik also reached out to Twitter and Tesla for comment, and we’ll update if we get one.
Elon Musk has had a hell of a time on Twitter himself. Just yesterday he was logged back on to dispute the New York Times reporting he choked up in an interview with the publication, followed by a series of tweets doubling down on his claim that one of the Thai cave rescuers who criticized Musk’s child cave submarine was a pedophile. Musk claimed the rescuer failed to file a lawsuit of his pedophile accusation, but CNBC reports today that he is in fact preparing legal action.
On August 7, Musk controversially tweeted that he had funding secured to take Tesla private at a valuation of $420 per share, but it took him a week to reveal possible investors to back such a move. The tweet has reportedly led to a Securities and Exchange Commission investigation into the legitimacy and truthfulness of Musk’s announcement.
Controversy over Tesla’s privatization was exacerbated by a series of posts Azealia Banks shared to her Instagram story, where she claimed Musk was “tweeting on acid fucking up his own stocks.” Banks also dove into wild speculation about Musk’s relationship with artist Grimes, who Banks’ claims she was meant to collaborate with on new music.
In later Instagram stories, Banks claimed Elon Musk’s attorneys paid off her attorneys to take her phone to delete evidence, later telling Business Insider that Musk and his people were lying about not having her phone. She also posted screenshots of an alleged conversation with Grimes about how Musk determined the $420 valuation that he announced as well as the SEC investigation.
Musk’s team has maintained that the two never met, but Banks claims they did bump into each other in Musk’s kitchen one night, presumably at the same time she claims he was “scrounging for investors to cover his ass.”
On Monday, Banks posted a screenshot of an alleged apology letter she sent to Musk back on August 19. In the same Instagram story, she prompted her followers to submit Tesla fan fiction by Oct. 31 to win a $1,000 cash prize.
It’s not clear if it was Banks’ exhaustive coverage of Musk’s life that drove her offline, as she’s been silenced multiple times before for beefs she’s maintained with plenty of other people. Regardless, she always comes back, and I personally can’t wait for that.