Azealia Banks drew sharp criticism this week after posting and then deleting comments mocking the victim of a knife attack in Belfast and the man who stepped in to confront the suspect. The remarks targeted Stephen Ogilvie, who was blinded in his left eye during the June 8 assault, and Maitiu Mág Tighearnán, who used his son's hurling stick to challenge the suspect in North Belfast.
The posts landed while people were still talking about the attack itself, which has become one of the most charged incidents in the city this month. Hadi Alodid, a Sudanese national, was ordered held in jail after appearing by video in Belfast Magistrates' Court, where a detective said he blinded Ogilvie in the left eye. He was also charged with possessing a knife and threatening to kill a radiographer while being treated for a hand injury after the assault.
Banks wrote under photos of Ogilvie, 'Like every horrible British gene just combined at once,' and later posted about Mág Tighearnán, 'UK might have the ugliest whites the world over.' Critics on X called the comments 'sick' and 'horrendous.' The posts were deleted after they appeared, but not before they were widely shared and condemned online.
The reaction was sharper because the Belfast attack already fed into riots stoked by anti-migrant rhetoric in Northern Ireland. Protests flared into violence, and homes, cars and trash cans were set on fire. Mág Tighearnán, who confronted the suspect in the Kinnaird Avenue area of North Belfast, said he did not want to be described as a hero even after stepping in with his son's stick.
For Banks, the backlash also revived memories of an earlier controversy in Ireland. In January 2019, she walked off a flight from London to Dublin after a dispute with Aer Lingus cabin crew and later posted insults about Irish people, including references to 'ugly Irish women,' comments that treated staff 'like a wild animal,' and a slur-laden rant about the Irish. Whether she speaks again about the Belfast posts, or faces any formal response, remains the unanswered question now.
