Toya Delazy

Toya Delazy Image via Twitter @ToyaDelazy

Toya Delazy slams SA Hip- Hop Awards for being ‘homophobic’

London-based musician Toya Delazy has slammed the South African Hip-Hop Awards claiming the organisation and its organiser are ‘homophobic’.

Toya Delazy

Toya Delazy Image via Twitter @ToyaDelazy

London-based South African singer, producer, pianist, dancer and performer Toya Delazy has slammed the South African Hip-Hop Awards and it’s organiser Rashid Kay for allegedly being “homophobic”.

She referenced a Twitter exchange between her and the television producer from almost a decade ago. Responding to her claims, Kay said Delazy was just “chasing clout for relevance”.

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TOYA DELAZY CALLS OUT RASHID KAY

After the South African Hip-Hop Awards nominees were announced on Tuesday 2 November, London-based musician Toya Delazy took to her Twitter page alleging that the organisation was homophobic towards her in 2013. 

“Remember Rashid Kay asking me to choose what I am anyway: a boy or a girl. Mocking me publicly on Twitter. Bk then there was no protection, comments like that took bread away & respect so I don’t expect the same folks to see me,” wrote Toya. 

A tweep was quick to dig up Rashid Kay’s old tweets highlighting that some of them got deleted. 

Some of his tweets read: “Toya Delazy? I still don’t get it, and I’m not talking about sex.”

“Are you suggesting we should loosen the rules and make the standards lower for females?”

RASHID KAY RESPONDS 

Speaking to TshisaLive, Rashid Kay responded to the Pump It On hitmaker’s claims highlighting that when the organisation started in 2012, very few women submitted their music for consideration. This led to a debate with controversial poet Ntsiki Mazwai on Twitter. 

“While Ntsiki and I were debating on Twitter, Toya joined the debate. She pulled the ‘homophobe’ card for not including the community. I explained that none of the submissions state whether one is straight or gay. She wanted to score cheap points and the whole thing was quoted out of context.”

“Toya is just chasing clout for relevance, and she’s manipulating the community’s emotions for support. She must release a good song and make a come back.”

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SOUTH AFRICAN HIP-HOP AWARDS

Blxckie, Big Zulu and Boity have all been nominated for several awards. Big Zulu is the rapper who leads with a whopping 10 awards. He has already claimed the Ubuntu Activism Award. 

The awards are set to take place on Friday 3 December and voting has already opened for fans to vote for their favourite rappers. 

See the full list of nominees here