Azealia Banks takes legal action against Matty Healy and demands $1,000,000 after online feud
Banks' lawyer has sent a cease and desist letter to Healey.
By Nick Reilly
Azealia Banks is taking legal action against Matty Healy after The 1975‘s frontman threatened to “slap” her in a now-deleted X/Twitter post.
The pair shared insults in a heated online feud last week, before Healy admitted he was “embarrassed” over his outburst and proceeded to delete his X account.
Now, Banks has shared a copy of a cease and desist letter sent from her lawyer to Healy.
The document demands that the singer immediately stops “making any further threats or defamatory statements against my client” and that he write a “prompt public apology” as well as compensating Banks to the sum of $1,000,000.
The letter reads: “Your attacks against my client’s professional reputation, your overt racial epithets, and your most recent threats of physical violence against my client have been well-documented since you published them worldwide online.”
The pair’s bust-up began last week when Healy responded to an X post in which Banks said that Charli XCX – the fiancée of his bandmate George Daniel – “used” to be pretty.
This all began when Healy responded to an X post by Banks in which she said Charli XCX – fiancée of Healy’s bandmate George Daniel – “used” to be pretty.
Banks shared the music video of Charli’s 2014 early hit ‘Break The Rules’ to illustrate her apparent point, before Healy immediately waded in.
He said: “All the women you attack seem to be culturally relevant, attractive, divisive and NICE people. I think this makes you jealous cos you’re so talented but everything else about you is a failure. Just rap bro.”
Healy then threatened to ‘slap’ Banks, but quickly reneged and wrote an apology: “Nah I can’t be saying I’m gonna hit a girl that’s insane I’m sorry.”
“Ok I’m gonna delete that tweet that was not cool even if I was angry,” he added.
In turn, Banks shared a photo of Healy and criticised his dental hygiene, recommending that he purchases “A Phillips electric tooth brush, and a waterpik flosser.”
Healy then went on to claim that his outbursts had taken place during “manic episodes”.
“Guys I don’t have the right kind of intelligence / emotional maturity etc for social media I literally just end up saying stuff that I immediately regret etc.”, he wrote.
“I’m actually just gonna stick to music cos I’m good at that. Having manic episodes on twitter at 35 is kinda pathetic”.
The cease and desist letter went on to claim that Healy deleting the posts constituted “evidence of an admission of guilt” and accused him of cyber bullying and harassment.
‘Due to your significant influence as a public figure, you have a duty to avoid reckless statements which have now raised serious concern that your followers may be invited to act upon your posts and commit an act of violence against my client,’ the letter said.
The feud also saw Banks reference Healy’s controversial appearance on comedian Adam Friedland’s podcast in 2023. During the show, he and the hosts laughed at derogatory comments about Ice Spice’s body and mocked Chinese and Hawaiian accents while speculating about her ethnicity. They also joked about Healy consuming porn that degrades and brutalises Black women. He issued a non-apology a few months later and Ice Spice eventually cleared the air, noting that she “never really cared about that” and saying she remained “a huge fan” of the 1975. On Tuesday, he referred to the porn joke as “tasteless” and added that he regrets both that joke and an onstage Nazi salute that drew criticism.