Banks has developed a reputation for disputes with public figures on Twitter, with Complex noting that "she gets more attention for her public feuds than she does for her music".[70]
In response to the Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations, she tweeted "them bitches frontin' like they wasn't trying to get some of that pudding pop!!!!" Judd Apatow strongly criticized her in response.[71] "No longer could we laugh off her behavior," Vulture observed later.[72]
Later that month Banks tweeted that the descendants of prominent slave-trading families "should all have their houses burned and their finances seized."[73] She also sent direct messages to James DeWolf Perry, a descendant of James DeWolf, who was an eighteenth-century politician, and slave-owner, demanding details about his finances, adding "I think white men all need to be locked away in a psych ward… Considering the atrocities committed by white men ON THE WORLD"[74] and "someone should kick your ass, and punch you right in your stupid smiling cracker face."[73]
In February 2015, Vice associate editor Mitchell Sunderland wrote a piece titled "My Bizarre Twitter Beef with Azealia Banks and Her Homophobia" about an exchange the two had. In response to the piece, Banks tweeted at Sunderland, "do you know that your mother pushed you out of a pussy?" The two argued over a period of days, with Banks stating, "and even if i am a homophobe… so wat? i still make more $ than you.. still have an extra hole.. and still own everything."[75]
On September 22, 2015, Banks became involved in a confrontation with a fellow passenger and the flight crew while attempting to exit a Delta Air Lines flight that had just landed in Los Angeles. According to witnesses, Banks was attempting to squeeze by others passengers to disembark the plane more quickly, when a French man blocked her path. Banks reacted by spitting in the man's face, punching him, and clawing at his shirt. Subsequently, a flight attendant stepped in and demanded that Banks calm down. This resulted in Banks forcefully arguing with the flight attendant, in which she at one point called the Delta employee a "fucking faggot".[76]
On November 10, 2015, it was reported Banks was under investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department following an altercation involving the rapper and a security guard at L.A. club Break Room 86.[77] Later that year, Banks was arrested in New York after attacking a female security guard.[78]
In March 2016, Sarah Palin threatened a lawsuit against Banks in response to a series of tweets where she attacked the politician.[79] Banks later apologized and said that her outburst was a result of her mistaking a fictional interview with Palin as real event.[80] In the satirical article, Palin is quoted as saying "Negroes loved being slaves." [81]
