It could be the year 2020 before Tyler, The Creator is allowed to perform in the United Kingdom.
The Odd Future rapper took to Twitter today to relay word that he has allegedly been banned from the UK for “3-5 years.” As the NME reports, Tyler was supported to play in Belfast and Dublin before appearing at the Reading and Leeds festivals, but those plans were scrapped. Earlier in the week he said the gigs were off due to “circumstances.”
Shedding a bit more light on those circumstances, Tyler tweeted that lyrics he wrote in 2009 are allegedly the source of the banishment. The rapper’s manager, Christian Clancy, went into further detail in a lengthy Tumblr essay. Clancy wrote, via DIY Magazine: “Tyler has been banned from entering the UK for somewhere between 3 to 5 years per a letter from the secretary of state for the home department of the united kingdom… The letter specifically cites lyrics he wrote 6-7 years ago for his albums bastard and goblin – the type of lyrics he hasn’t written since… highlights from the letter include that his work ‘encourages violence and intolerance of homosexuality’ and ‘fosters hatred with views thats seek to provoke others to terrorist acts..'”
Clancy goes on: “To say that i am confused would be an understatement. can you imagine being beholden to things you said when you were 18? tyler has been to the UK over 20x in the last 5 years without incident… im not defending his OLD lyrics. to be honest they make me cringe, but i stand beside him because of who he actually IS.”
Here are Tyler’s tweets on the issue:
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, The Creator (@fucktyler) August 26, 2015
*listens to last three releases in confusion*
— Tyler, The Creator (@fucktyler) August 26, 2015
This isn’t the first bit of trouble Tyler is dealing with on foreign shores. Earlier this month, he cancelled his Australian tour after women’s groups protested his arrival.