Collective Shout, the group that waged a successful campaign to have Tyler, The Creator’s 2015 Australian tour cancelled, have responded to the controversial rapper’s recently unveiled diss track.
As Tone Deaf reported earlier today, on ‘Fuck It’, Tyler savages Australia’s visa laws and argues that it was racism that saw him banned for his incendiary lyrics while white artists with similar lyrics are given a free pass.
“When Marshall had this problem what the fuck was they telling him? / Is it cause of status or his melanin lacks black”, Tyler raps, referencing Eminem, who despite his similarly homophobic and misogynistic lyrics, toured as recently as last year.
Music blog Pitchfork recently highlighted the racist undertones of Australia’s selective visa policy, which has barred Tyler, The Creator, Chris Brown, and Floyd Mayweather, but has permitted artists like Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, and Slash.
‘Fuck It’, which readers can hear below, also sees Tyler denying claims of misogyny and homophobia, albeit in controversial fashion. “How can I be misogynistic when I love titties and ass”, he raps, adding, “How can I be homophobic when my boyfriend’s a fag?”
But speaking to the Associated Press, Caitlin Roper, Campaigns Manager at Collective Shout, dismissed the song as juvenile, saying Tyler could have written lyrics that don’t “rely on the exploitation of women to generate profits”.
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“Instead he’s essentially had a tantrum to music,” Roper added. According to Roper, Tyler has shown no remorse for his past actions or lyrics and that suggesting he was young when he wrote his most controversial words is a poor excuse.
“While he may have been a young man when he wrote music describing raping women, mutilating their bodies, locking them in his basement and raping their corpses, he’s not a child anymore, and he is yet to grow up and take responsibility for what he has put out into the world,” she said.
However, Roper did ask “why Eminem was granted a visa?” adding, “Collective Shout partnered with a coalition of domestic violence organisations in 2013 calling on the government to deny Eminem a visa.”
