In 2015, Tyler, the Creator was scheduled to perform at the Reading and Leeds Festivals, an annual pair of music festivals in England. Instead, he was brought into an airport detention room and shown lyrics from years-old songs of his. Theresa May, then the home secretary, had banned him from the country, warning in an official statement that his work “encourages violence and intolerance of homosexuality” and “fosters hatred with views that seek to provoke others to terrorist acts.”
As The Guardian points out, rappers Eminem and Offset weren’t blocked from entering the UK over their homophobic words — and they haven’t written “some of the most refreshing verses about same-sex attraction in a major label hip-hop field of play,” as Vulture deemed them.
Related: Jaden Smith confirms “Tyler is my boyfriend, that’s true”
That said, the California native did drop homophobic slurs before he publicly came out, though he insists he wasn’t using it as a weapon. “Bro! That’s the thing, bro,” he tells The Guardian. “People knew I wasn’t. People knew the intent! That tree over there could be a faggot! Who hasn’t played Call Of Dutyonline and heard some 11-year-old call you that because you killed him? You knew the intent behind it and then people were faking, like, he’s homophobic? That was pissing me off. It’s just another word.”
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Tyler spent a lot of money and time trying to lift his UK ban. “Then you get the official thumbs up. It was like: damn, finally,” he explains. “But it was so stupid to have to endure that. I got treated like a terrorist.”
Tyler, the Creator: ‘Theresa May’s gone, so I’m back in the UK’ https://t.co/ewSYlsxTlz
— The Guardian (@guardian) October 5, 2019
With the ban finally lifted, Tyler recently played three sold-out shows at Brixton Academy in London and had to cancel another performance in Peckham due to overcrowding.
Related: Tyler the Creator raps about hooking up with “all the sweet men I wanna” and other very gay things
“Yeah. I got treated like I was a murderer,” he continues, reflecting on the ban. “It was kind of stupid, and after a while, I was like: I don’t even want to come back. But it was more the principle of: ‘Y’all really did this, over this? In comparison to other sh*t people do, that y’all let in?’ So I’m happy that I got back. I feel like I won some invisible fight.”
His Brixton shows marked a victory lap for the 28-year-old. “It’s been four years since I’ve been back,” he told the adoring crowd. “Since this beautiful, flawless black skin was allowed in the country.”
And to The Guardian, he quips about May’s recent resignation: “She’s gone, so I’m back.”
Larry
I just never got this. It does not matter what YOU meant, Tyler. Let’s say you say what you want, F word, N word, anything you want. Someone in the crowd goes out and shoots LGBTQ people and minorities and when questioned they say I was inspired by Tyler the Creator. Whether you like it or not, you are an example to all kinds of stupid people. You are doing the same thing Trump is doing. He said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his people would still love him. People do that in his name every day here in the USA.
queerty02
Sounds like he still doesn’t get it!
Jon in Canada
No, he certainly does not get it; which makes his whining all the more irritating.
Donston
Like a lot of folks, he seems to think that because he (sorta) admits to having sex with dudes and legitimately being guys that it means everyone should be cool with whatever he puts out there. Yes, the ban was extreme. It should have never happened. But he doesn’t seem to get that he’s spent years using homophobic language and indirectly promoting internalized homophobia, gay shame, same-sex resentments. And in both music and in interviews he constantly makes anything related to same-sex either sound tawdry or violent. The dude has some issues he needs confronting, and no amount of de-bans or “black queers” embracing him is gonna fix them. One of those issues is a lack of self-awareness and how he comes off to others. Or maybe he just gets off on trolling. Either way, my sympathies have run dry with him.
thisisnotreal
@donston ironically I completely agree with you on this one. And also I’m a little confused by this article at the same time…” That said, the California native did drop homophobic slurs before he publicly came out, though he insists he wasn’t using it as a weapon.” so umm… unless I’ve been in a coma the last few years I think I missed the part where Tyler “came out”. Has he made questionable references in his lyrics? Yup. But so have many other artists who weren’t actually gay or bisexual etc (Katy perry comes to mind) so unless I’m missing something, tyler never actually “came out” he just uses lyrics for shock value…not the same thing queerty.
Kangol2
@thisisnotreal, you must have been in a mini-deep sleep, because this site, if you can believe it, has regularly covered Tyler’s extending coming out–as gay or bisexual or at least open to same-sex attractions. I count six or so articles on Queerty (do a search) in which Tyler comments about liking guys, having had a boyfriend when he was a teenager, expressing attraction to Timothee Chalamet, etc.
The UK ban is extreme, and apparently it isn’t equally applied. But the UK does not have the same free speech protections the US has, and the US also bans or has banned people (remember the “Muslim ban,” people?) for a variety of reasons. Tyler’s regular use of homophobic language both when he was part of Odd Future and then when he began his solo career was pretty harsh, and yes, people in the know might have gathered that he was being ironic at times, but it wasn’t always clear, so he paid a price for his actions. I’m glad he’s grown up a lot since then, but he’s still got a way to go.
Donston
He actually has given a couple of interviews where he’s in more than a roundabout way revealed that he’s into dudes. He hasn’t attached himself to an identity. And I can respect that. People’s sense of self, their personal struggles, where they are on the romantic/sexual/emotional/affection/relationship spectrum can often feel too individual to sum it up with a mere “label”. However, he hasn’t been direct about anything, he’s barely shown a real level of self-comfort, he doesn’t seem to have any interests in reaching the “queer community”, he hasn’t made unabashedly homo-romantic/homo-affections/homo-erotic music. So, him using homophobic language and constantly using homo behaviors as shock value and for attention does not sit well with me. He’s “growing”, but it’s apparent he still has some unfortunate blind spots, and I’m just over it.
Kangol2
@Donston, he’s repeatedly either typed out or posted images of his attraction to white guys, including a young Leonardo diCaprio. He’s also rapped stuff like “How can I be homophobic when my boyfriend’s a f*g? / And we been hiding in the closet like our passion is fashion / Still trying to come out / Couldn’t deal with n*ggas who decide to take the fun out.”
Also, he recently freestyled about banging out men in Sweden (“Switch with him, then I can f*ck all the sweet men that I wanna. Actually I’m gonna, heat it up real quick, mothaf*cka I’m LeBron”) and even Hot 97 host Funkmaster Flex: “Listen Flex, we just met but I know it don’t seem like R. Kelly wet dreams I always keep 16. Me and Flex looking in the index for buff net n*gga, just for some hot butt sex n*gga.” Flex tried to stop him and he kept going on, about a guy who stood him and his mother up, etc.
I mean, what does he have to do, wear a sandwich board that says “I’m gay and I like guys?”
Donston
He embraces “homo sexual images” in his lyrics. But the lack of any desire to appeal to “queers” and how his lyrics offers either tawdry or violent images- it leaves me uncomfortable. Admitting that you fvck around with dudes doesn’t give “full rights”. He also seems to not understand why anyone had an issue with his lyrics in the first place. He’s improving as an artist. But as “representation”- I’m cool on that. I don’t feel any ill will towards him though and will continue to check out his music. Also, he seems to want to be viewed as just a nerdy black straight guy who maybe has homo overall preferences, and that type of persona leaves me indifferent.
jasentylar
He never came out. Please stop rewriting history.
jjose712
You don’t need to say the words to make it obvious, and his instagram is pretty obvious.
Anyway, the problems with his homophobic slurs were way before he hinted anything at all about his sexuality (apart of being obsessed with Bruno Mars).
Back then he seemed the typical homophobic rapper and only after Frank Ocean’s coming out he started to change (It seems the whole Odd future was pretty gay, at least that’s what said the only female member)
James
Another useless wannabe soon to be forgotten.