A Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney has determined no charges will be filed against actor Russell Crowe over a hotel dispute with rapper and singer Azealia Banks in October.
Banks charged Crowe had physically assaulted and hurled racial slurs at her during a weekend dinner party in Beverly Hills on Oct. 15. Banks had attended the gathering in Crowe's Room at the Beverly Hills Hotel before the confrontation occurred, documents from the prosecutor noted.
She told Beverly Hills police that Crowe had "grabbed her by the neck, used a racial epithet, and threw her out of the room," adding that he spat on her hand while she was standing by the door, court documents stated.
However, several guests at the party told authorities that Banks was the aggressor, stating that she used a racial epithet repeatedly, was verbally aggressive to partygoers, and "threatened to break a glass to cut the throat of a female guest and/or Crowe," read documents from the prosecutor.
According to guests, Crowe struggled with Banks after partygoers saw her pick up a glass in the room, and then led Banks out of the hotel room. The Deputy District Attorney determined Crowe took her out of the room to prevent the violence she had threatened.
Rapper and actor RZA, who brought Banks as a guest to the party, described his account of the confrontation in a Facebook post days after the incident. He described Banks' behavior that night, and wrote the verbal abuse escalated when Banks made the threat before she grabbed and attacked another guest.
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"Russell blocked the attack and expelled her from the suite," wrote RZA on Facebook. "Seeing is believing and I saw her behave as an obnoxious erratic individual and in the circles I frequent this was unprecedented....THIS IS NOT A RACE OR GENDER ISSUE. I did not hear Russell call her a N::gg:::: I'm not trying to protect Russell from anything he is a man of his own Caliber."
The Deputy District Attorney also determined Crowe would not be held "criminally accountable for the minor battery of spitting on Banks' gloved hand," since the act was "incidental" to preventing the violent behavior she threatened.
Court documents also noted one guest said the spit did not touch her hand.
Banks admitted to insulting Crowe before she was escorted out of the room. She did not have any injuries when she reported the confrontation to police about 12 hours after it happened, and documents from the prosecutor added there was no known video in the area of the hotel room.
