Push To Ban Tyler, The Creator From Touring Australia

Tyler, The Creator, the notorious leader of now-defunct California hip-hop crew Odd Future, recently announced a forthcoming tour of Australia, but his plans have been met with considerable resistance. Activist group Collective Shout are hoping to get him barred from entering the country.

“We can’t ignore someone who comes here and advocates rape and extreme violence against women through his lyrics,” Collective Shout co-founder Melinda Tankard Reist told 3AW host Neil Mitchell, via FasterLouder. On these grounds, Collective Shout are urging Immigration Minister Peter Dutton to deny Tyler a visa.

“You can’t have a national plan of action to address violence against women at the same time as doing nothing to stop the cultural drivers of that very same violence,” Tankard Reist told Mitchell, explaining that the rapper’s lyrics promote murder and genital mutilation and describe the rape and torture of women.

During the discussion, which readers can hear below, Mitchell agreed that Tyler’s lyrics are “vile” and describe “some awful things”, but suggested the rapper’s lack of criminal convictions would prove insufficient grounds to prevent him from touring Australia.

However, Collective Shout insist Tyler should be refused entry as the government can bar visa applicants “whose presence in Australia may, because of their activities, reputation, known record or the cause they represent and propagate, vilify or incite discord in the Australian community”.

“If you had a look at what he did last time it would be dangerous to ignore him,” said Tankard Reist. “He incited violence against one of our activists, in fact it was her footage of him inciting that violence that caused New Zealand to ban him from touring in 2013.”

Tyler and several other Odd Future members were prevented by New Zealand immigration authorities from appearing as part of the Auckland instalment of Eminem’s Rapture festival last year, on the grounds that they posed a “threat to public order and the public interest”.

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During the rapper’s previous trip to Oceania in June 2013, Tyler issued an expletive-ridden tirade against 24-year-old Talitha Stone, a Collective Shout member who’d launched an earlier social media campaign to have his touring visa cancelled, in the middle of a Sydney performance.

Tankard Reist claims footage of the Enmore Theatre rant resulted in the New Zealand government’s decision to bar him from performing. Tyler later referenced the ban on his single ‘Smuckers’, on which he raps, “I got banned from New Zealand, Whitey called me demon and a terrorist / God dammit I couldn’t believe it”.

During his discussion with Tankard Reist, Mitchell fielded a call from a teenaged fan of the controversial rapper, who defended his incendiary subject matter. “He sings about [rape] but he doesn’t mean it, I don’t think,” 17-year-old Laura told Mitchell.

Tyler, The Creator is currently scheduled to play gigs in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth when he hits the country early this September. He’ll be promoting Cherry Bomb, his third studio album, which was unveiled to generally positive reviews earlier this year.

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