US/World News

‘I’m Jewish now’: Rapper Azealia Banks ignites social media storm

(JTA) – Incendiary rapper Azealia Banks announced her engagement to artist Ryder Ripps by posting a photo on Instagram of a ring with a menorah on it and writing “I’m Jewish now. MAZEL TOV BITCHES!” in the caption. Some social media users took issue with the proclamation, implying that Banks could not assume a Jewish identity by marrying a Jewish person or that wearing a symbol of Judaism was disrespectful. Banks – who is known for getting into feuds with public figures on Twitter – shot back. Here’s one representative exchange, which ends with Banks declaring, “I’m a jewcy diva now.”

In another exchange, Banks likened her connection to Judaism to the gender identity of transgender people, in an analogy that some decried as transphobic.

Ripps is a 34-year-old art director and conceptual artist who has not made a Jewish identity part of his public persona. His father Rodney, also an artist, once showed some of his art in an exhibit at New York City’s Jewish Museum on “Jewish Themes.”

Main Photo: Azealia Banks performs in London, England, Jan. 27, 2019. (Burak Cingi/Redferns/Getty Images)

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