How are Azealia Banks, Jack Dorsey's beard, and ISIS related?
Hint: there's also a magical amulet
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CELEBRITY Azealia banks
Jack Dorsey is the CEO of one of the largest social media platforms in the world, Twitter, but he's not above calling in a peculiar favor from one of the most controversial figures in the music scene. Azealia Banks has already had her fair share of bizarre headlines this year, but one more head-scratcher has surfaced just in time for Christmas.
As it turns out, Dorsey reportedly sent his beard trimmings to Banks so that the rapper could craft him an amulet that would protect him from evil spirits, particularly in the form of ISIS. Deep breath.
Banks first made the strange claim on Twitter in 2016 when she wrote that Dorsey “sent me his hair in an envelope because I was supposed to make him an amulet for protection,” NME reports. She hadn't exactly made herself a very reliable source of information, but her claims have just been referenced in a piece about the Twitter CEO by Vanity Fair.
Writer Nick Bilton includes that a source who worked with Dorsey told him that the CEO "had sent a rapper his beard shavings to make him an amulet that would protect him from evildoers." Though there's no mention of her name, SPIN later confirmed that it was, indeed, Banks, and that the request came as part of a larger deal.
Apparently Dorsey had promised to promote Banks' mixtape 'Slay-Z' in exchange for promoting his cash transfer app called Square, as well as creating a magical object for him that would ward off ISIS, which had previously threatened Dorsey in a video earlier that year.
In 2016, Stereogum included a string of now-deleted tweets from Banks that detailed the situation, from the Square Cash promotion that she followed through on to Dorsey's failure to bring up his end of the bargain. She reportedly wrote, "I have 3 strands of a billionaire's hair. I should steal his luck."
It's going to take a lot more than an amulet with beard shavings for the billionaire to keep out of hot water, but people are flocking to his social media platform to share their thoughts on this bizarre situation.
One user asked, "Is it more weird that this happened or that I believe it?"
is it more weird that this happened or that i believe it https://t.co/U7Y9FrKrGi
— amadí (@amadoit__) December 17, 2018
Another asked a more important question, which is what Banks did with Dorsey's beard clippings if they weren't made into an amulet of protection....
What did Azealia Banks do with Jack Dorsey's beard clippings if she never made his ISIS protection amulet? https://t.co/UCe8leKUuV
— Rishma Dosani (@Rishma_Dosani) December 18, 2018
Many others feel a little guilty about not believing Banks the first time, and it's changing their thoughts on the Elon Musk/Grimes fiasco from earlier this year. Still, the headlines sound like they're from a parallel universe.
*spins wheel*
— James Mishra (@rishmishra) December 18, 2018
Jack Dorsey
*rolls dice*
sent beard hair to
*throws dart*
Azealia Banks
https://t.co/2E8VYO1HL7
Stay tuned for next week when Donald Trump sends clippings of his comb-over to Kanye West to include in his next fashion show in North Korea.