According to a report from TMZ, Russell Crowe will not face charges in his hotel room altercation with Azealia Banks in October. Although Banks claimed she would be pressing charges against Crowe, the Los Angeles D.A. reportedly rejected her attempted criminal charges, saying Crowe was justified due to her aggressive behavior towards his guests. According to the report, the D.A. found that Crowe's bear hug of Banks was "justified to prevent the imminent violence threatened by Banks," and him spitting at her was "incidental to preventing more serious threatened violence."
Based on eyewitness testimony, Banks was reportedly the instigator of the situation, matching initial tabloid reports of the incident. She allegedly acted aggressively, hurled racial epithets, and threatened to attack Crowe's guests with a drinking glass.
Banks accused Crowe of choking her, spitting on her, and repeatedly calling her the n-word during their encounter, and claimed that surveillance footage would back up her side of the story. As it later turned out, there were no cameras in the hallway outside of Crowe's room, and none of the altercation was caught on tape. And although Banks leveled a number of accusations against Crowe, none of the eyewitnesses have backed up her side of the story. Even RZA, whom Banks was a guest of, said on Facebook that she was out of control and took things from verbal abuse of Crowe to attempted physical assault of one of his guests.
With Banks' charges going nowhere, it looks like the matter is settled for now.
