Iggy Azalea quits crowdsurfing after fans try to sexually assault her
by Lauren O'Neil Posted: April 23, 2014 6:01 PM Last Updated: April 23, 2014 6:10 PM
Categories: Community, Arts & Entertainment
Australian rapper Iggy Azalea, once renowned for getting up-close and personal with her fans during live concerts, will no longer be crowdsurfing at shows thanks to some overly-aggressive audience members.
In an interview with New York hip hop station Hot 97 this week, twenty-three-year-old Azalea (whose real name is Amethyst Amelia Kelly) revealed that she had been forced to put up barriers between herself fans at concerts because of repeated sexual assault attempts.
“I had to stop,” said Azalea, who is currently promoting her debut album The New Classic. “It’s funny because we were talking about how [on] my tour, I’m only doing like 2,000-seaters but I still have to have barriers, even if it’s like 200 people, because people try to [assault] me.”
And the harassment goes beyond groping at shows, according to the artist -- it actually begins on social media before she even arrives in a city.
"I will get lurk tweets like a week before my show," the rapper said. "I'll see it and be like, 'Please don't.' That's a violation. I don't actually like that stuff."
While she's no doubt grateful for the support of those who've bought her album — which currently sits at #1 on iTunes in both the U.S. and Canada — Azalea had a strong message for grabby audience members: "Buying my album for $12 doesn’t mean you get to [assault] me when I come to your city."
Azalea also noted that often, female fans are worse culprits than males.
“Girls will try to do it more than guys ’cause girls think it’s cool,” she said.
To combat the problem, Azalea now wears multiple layers of clothing to ensure she's protected.
"I wear, no lie, two pairs of underpants and then a pair of skin-coloured tights and then my pants as like a protection barrier, because there’s just no way I’m going to be intruded," she said.
Many of the star's fans and other observers were disturbed by the unsettling news she revealed during yesterday's interview.
