Matty Healy admits post threatening to ‘slap’ Azealia Banks was ‘not cool’

Matty Healy has apologised after saying he would ‘slap’ Azealia Banks in a heated online exchange.

The 1975 frontman, 35, responded to an X post by the American singer, 33, when she said Charli XCX – fiancée of Healy’s bandmate George Daniel – ‘used’ to be pretty.

Banks shared the music video of Charli’s 2014 track Break The Rules from her album Sucker and commented: ‘Charli used to be soooo pretty. Ugh.’

In response, Healy replied: ‘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.’

What followed was an extremely heated exchange, in which Banks compared Healy to ‘Frankenstein’ and he responded that he would ‘slap’ her.

In a now-deleted X post, he wrote: ‘I’ll f******slap you so hard I’ll get a Guinness world record for the highest a rat some b**ch calls a wig has ever flown.’

However, after threatening to slap Banks, Healy backtracked with an apology as he wrote: ‘Nah I can’t be saying I’m gonna hit a girl that’s insane I’m sorry. You just can’t keep being so mean about my mates and my mrs it’s really hurtful gets me well defensive.’

He also added: ‘Ok I’m gonna delete that tweet that was not cool even if I was angry.’

Banks then posted a picture of Healy and accused him of not flossing enough, recommending: ‘A Phillips electric tooth brush, and a waterpik flosser.’

Fans were outraged at Healy’s threatening message, as @inyrbenz asked: ‘So is no one gonna speak about the fact Matty Healy threatened to slap a woman?’

‘Matty Healy saying he’s going to slap the wig off of a black woman,’ added @skinnybtchalert, while @Andysuspirium asked: ‘why are u threatening a woman with violence?’

Healy’s comments come in the backdrop of an epidemic of violence against women, which has been declared a national emergency in the UK.

This is not the first time Healy has caused an uproar with highly offensive remarks and actions.

When asked by a fan if he regrets any of his actions or words, last night on his X rampage Healy admitted he regretted doing a Nazi salute in a January 2023 gig.

He made the historically loaded gesture during a performance of Love it If We Made It, while referencing Kanye West’s anti-semitism.

‘Yeah I regret doing a nazi salute during love it if we made it,’ he said on X.

‘I mean I get the point – but that’s just a hack bit. Regret the porn website I referenced in the podcast cos it was just a silly name I’d heard – I wasn’t a[wa]re it was affiliated with violence. The rest is just life.’

The Adam Friedland Show appears to be the podcast Healy is referring to. After an episode was released in February 2023 in which Healy made racist and offensive comments about rapper Ice Spice, he was hit with a wave of outrage.

During his episode, the hosts joked about Ice Spice’s ethnicity, with one asking if the 23-year-old rapper, who is of Nigerian and Dominican descent, was an ‘Inuit Spice Girl.’

Healy proceeded to laugh as the group did crude impersonations of an Inuit accent, and he also seemed amused as the presenters did impressions of hypothetical Japanese guards at German concentration camps.

The frontman also joked about watching a porn channel, speaking about masturbating to ‘somebody just getting, like, brutalised.’

His comments were branded ‘racist, misogynistic, and ignorant,’ and Apple and Spotify went on to remove the podcast from their platforms.

Healy apologised for the remarks on stage in New Zealand, but when asked by The New Yorker if he had baited his fans on purpose, he said: ‘A little bit.’

‘But it doesn’t actually matter,’ he insisted.

‘Nobody is sitting there at night slumped at their computer, and their boyfriend comes over and goes, “What’s wrong, darling?” and they go, “It’s just this thing with Matty Healy.” That doesn’t happen.’

‘Maybe it does,’ the interviewer retorted.

Hitting back, Matty responded: ‘If it does, you’re either deluded or you are, sorry, a liar. You’re either lying that you are hurt, or you’re a bit mental for being hurt.’

After the controversy, it later emerged that Taylor Swift – who was rumoured to be going out with Healy – was releasing a new version of Karma with Ice Spice.

The Getaway Car hitmaker was criticised for failing to address her rumoured flame’s offensive comments amid the release, and Banks again hit out at Healy’s behaviour.

Taking to Instagram stories, she penned: ‘Taylor, this guy is gonna give you scabies.

‘He’s not on the level of powerful p*ss you worked hella hard to build. Ugh, so many much cooler people in music to work with.’

She added: ‘Ugh, this dude is a full incel. You cannot be letting him climb the rich white c***hie mountain, sis.’

Metro has contacted Matty Healy’s representatives for comment.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE: Huge British rock band ‘to headline Friday night slot’ at Glastonbury 2025

MORE: Matty Healy can’t keep hands off his fiancée as onlookers gawp at their PDA