Source: Taylor Hill / Getty
Tyler, The Creator says that he’s “getting treated like a terrorist” in light of his recent bans from entering both Australia and more latterly, the United Kingdom.
During an interview with The Guardian that was published yesterday (September 1), the Los Angeles native opened up about his recent goings-on and offered some insight into how the ban from entering the U.K. came about.
“Monday was one of the shittiest days I’ve ever had,” he says. “I was in a detention room; I felt like a criminal. And then [a Border Force officer] showed me lyrics from songs … literally, a paper with five lines of lyrics, and four were from Bastard songs and one was from ‘Tron Cat.’ I never perform those songs. Thirty minutes later, the guy comes in, he gives me a paper, and he says: ‘OK, they’re not letting you in the country.’ The paper said I couldn’t come at all, saying that I support homophobia and acts of terrorism, and [it said] some other stuff. I’m just like, one, none of that is true, and two, I was here seven weeks ago. I rented out a movie theatre for a show. I did something really awesome, and it was no problem.
“Now [the UK government] are just followers,” Tyler, The Creator continues. “Everyone is a follower, just following what other countries are doing. Now I’m getting treated like a terrorist. I’m bummed out because it’s like, dude, I’m not homophobic. I’ve said this since the beginning. The ‘hating women’ thing – it’s so nuts. It’s based on things I made when I was super-young, when no one was listening [to my music]. Like, I wrote ‘Blow’ when I was reading about different people in American history. One of the people happened to be [the serial killer] Ted Bundy, and I wrote a song from his point of view.”
Tyler, The Creator says that as a result of his recent bans, threats are being posed to the notion of freedom of art and speech.
“When the Australia thing happened, I was like, ‘Wow, OK.’ Then the UK thing happened, and it’s like: ‘OK, this is not funny any more – this is actually wrong, from a moral standpoint.’ Now [threats against] freedom of art and speech are at hand. And because of this, it’s opening a door for anyone to be banned.”
Tyler, The Creator also says that other countries are following the precedent set by Australia and New Zealand. Tyler was banned from entering New Zealand in 2014 because he allegedly posed “a threat to the public order and the public interest.”
“They’re following! They’re just followers at this point – to me, at least. Personally. I don’t know. It all came out of nowhere; I was [in London] in May, dude. Two months later they’re like: ‘Hey, uh, yeah, we reviewed music from a long time ago out of nowhere, [and] you can’t come in.’ What?”
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Tyler, The Creator On Recent Bans From U.K. & Australia: ‘I’m Getting Treated Like A Terrorist’ was originally published on theurbandaily.com
