When Twitter first emerged in 2006, no one thought it would be even half of what it is today. Hitting “Send” truly felt like yelling into a big empty void. However, we know for certain today that everything on the internet is forever. Unfortunately, Iggy Azalea learned that the hard way when she booked a gig performing at Pittsburgh Pride, and LGBTQ activists were angered by old homophobic tweets of hers.
The “Fancy” rapper was forced to cancel her performance and offered an apology on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/IGGYAZALEA/status/608061332676558848
For what it’s worth, there are a lot of things worthy of holding Iggy Azalea accountable for. Digging up old tweets to find awful things is not the way to go. That’s not to defend the awful things she’s said, which she should feel absolutely remorseful for. The benefit of the doubt is hard to extend to people who could possibly betray that trust again and again, but if most people had their spontaneous thoughts as a 19-year-old recorded in the Library of Congress, they would be mortified, too. People grow and change, at least that’s what we hope for. If you’re having to constantly outrun your past, you’ll eventually get tired. Plus, it’s not just the ones you don’t like, a lot of your faves have problematic tweets, too, if you search hard enough.
As far as Iggy goes, she handed over the reins of her Twitter account to her team a while back, and that was probably the best thing for her, along with her break away from the public with her canceled tour. Most people are calling all of this a death sentence for her career, and maybe it is. But if she comes back a better person (and, dear God, hopefully a better rapper), it might have all been worth it.
