Iggy Azalea cancels Pittsburgh Pride performance

Pittsburgh PrideFest organizers announced the cancellation of pop artist Iggy Azalea’s performance at the LGBT event on Monday night.

The Delta Foundation organized PrideFest, which runs Downtown from June 6 to June 14, and faced previous criticism for picking Azalea to headline the festival. Controversy stemmed from statements Azalea made on social media that members of the LGBT community saw as racist and homophobic. Amidst the widespread criticism, several LGBT groups chose to boycott the event, including Pittsburgh’s chapter of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network. Azalea was originally penciled in to perform on June 13.

Azalea said in a tweet that she was “truly disappointed” to be canceling her PrideFest performance.

“This has been a difficult decision as I truly support the event and the LGBTQA communities, however I feel my participation at this point would only serve to further distract from the true purpose of the event,” Azalea tweeted.

Pitt junior Marcus Robinson said he did not plan to attend the performance, despite his active role in the LGBTQ community as president of Pitt’s Rainbow Alliance.

“I have issues with the Delta Foundation’s Pride in the Streets concert series failing to use that platform to spotlight local LGBTQA+ artists,” Robinson said.

The Delta Foundation said in a tweet that it has been working with Azalea’s management, publicists and agents, as well as LGBTQ leaders, to deal with these concerns.

“We’re sorry that our headliner choice caused a division within our community but we believe that change happens through conversation,” the Delta Foundation tweeted.

The organization has not yet announced who will replace Azalea and could not be reached for comment by time of publication.

Chris Estes contributed reporting for this story.