American rapper Tyler, the Creator was banned from the UK back in the summer of 2015… but why?
It’s a serious ban as he may not be able to come into the country until 2020. This is because exclusion, ordered by the home secretary, is reviewed ‘every three to five years’.
The musician, real name Tyler Gregory Okonma, was told the lyrics on two of his albums, Bastard and Goblin, posed a threat to the safety of the British public.
This meant he could not perform at some planned shows in the UK.
The same thing happened to him when he flew to Australia earlier that year and was denied entry after pressure from a feminist campaign group.
He was put in a detention room by UK border officers and shown the offending lyrics, before being told ‘OK, they’re not letting you in the country.’
However, Tyler had been in the UK just seven weeks previously to perform.
Explaining what had happened, Tyler tweeted: ‘Based on lyrics from 2009, I am not allowed in the UK for 3-5 years (although I was there 8 weeks ago). That is why the shows were cancelled.’
Tyler was given a letter which read: ‘The home secretary has considered whether, in light of this list, you should be excluded from the UK on the grounds that your presence here would not be conducive to the public good.
‘The home secretary has reached this decision because you have brought yourself within the scope of the list of unacceptable behaviour by making statements that may foster hatred, which might lead to intercommunity violence in the UK.’
It continued: ‘Your albums Bastard, in 2009, and Goblin, in 2011, are based on the premise of your adopting a mentally unstable alter ego who describes violent physical abuse, rape and murder in graphic terms which appears to glamourise this behaviour.’
Concluding the letter was the statement: ‘Although there is no statutory right of appeal against the secretary’s decision, the decision is reviewed every three to five years.’
Talking to The Guardian, Tyler said: ‘The paper [I was given] 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.’
Defending himself from accusations of encouraging hate, he added: ‘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.’
He added: ‘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”.’
In October 2015, a few months after his ban from Australia, he released a track called F*** It which blasted the country’s immigration laws.
The lyrics included: ‘Tell Australia I’m sneaking in with a mic in my damn hand / Instead of the vegetables that I packed in my backpack….
‘When Marshall [Eminem] had this problem what the f**k was they telling him? / Is it cause of status or his melanin lacks black / I think people love to be mad.’
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