Nicki Minaj fans protesting Iggy Azalea’s Billboard Music Awards win for Top Rap Song have gained 20,000 signatures for their online petition.
Fans, who launched the petition via Change.org, argue that Azalea’s ‘Fancy’ was released on February 17, nearly a month before the eligibility date of March 14, 2014. However, the song’s first week in the Hot 100 appears to have been March 22, 2014, with Feb 17 applying to the song’s UK release.
SEE MORE: Iggy Azalea’s 10 Best Songs Ranked
Closing the petition, which received 21,661 signatures, Minaj fan Christian Ferguson wrote: “To everyone who signed the petition to retract Iggy’s Billboard Music Award, thank you first and foremost; however, a spokesperson for Dick Clark Productions, who produces the award show, has said that the award is still Iggy’s unfortunately. We got to nearly 20,000 signatures, which is freaking insane. I think Nicki possibly saw the petition, and MTV even wrote an article about it! Thank you for all the all the support!”
Meanwhile, organisers of a music festival in Pittsburgh are facing protests from LGBTQ activists after booking Iggy Azalea to headline their annual event.
Azalea is scheduled to headline this year’s Pittsburgh Pridefest on June 13 but petitions aimed at preventing the Australian rapper from performing have already begun circulating, Billboard reports. The festival promotes itself as “the premiere LGBT community festival in Pennsylvania” and last year featured performances from Adam Lambert, Chaka Khan, and Patti LaBelle.
The protests stem from claims of racially insensitive and homophobic remarks made by the rapper on the internet in the past. Critics of the festival also believe event organisers the Delta Foundation no longer welcoming of people from diverse backgrounds. A Facebook group for protestors states: “there is little to no evidence of Delta advocating for anybody but affluent cis gay white men.”
Joy KMT, who created the Facebook group, stated: “We are in a time … where there are uprisings all over America. Black trans women are being killed all over the nation. For it to be whitewashed is a destruction of legacy.”
Organisers of the festival have defended their booking decision, however, with the Delta Foundation telling the Pittsburgh City Paper: “If we believed that Iggy Azalea was racist or homophobic, we certainly would not have selected her to headline Pittsburgh Pride. We also don’t believe she would have agreed to come if she was racist or homophobic.”