Source: ANGELA WEISS / Getty
Fans Wants The UK To End Their Ban On Tyler, The Creator
Fans of Tyler, The Creator are trying to convince the U.K. government to lift their “petty” ban on the rapper.
Back in 2015, the Odd Future founder was informed that he was prohibited from entering Britain for the next three to five years. According to legal documents, the decision was due to the rapper’s controversial lyrical content, specifically citing songs from the 2009 Bastard and 2011 Goblin projects. He was then issued a letter that referenced the country’s Home Office policy on “behaviours unacceptable in the UK”; this was a set of guidelines created in 2005 to prevent suspected terrorists from entering the country.
The UK Home Office addressed the ban in the following statement:
“Coming to the UK is a privilege, and we expect those who come here to respect our shared values. The Home Secretary has the power to exclude an individual if she considers that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good or if their exclusion is justified on public policy grounds.”
The decision came about a month after Tyler announced the cancelation of his Australia tour on his Twitter page. He informed fans he was banned from Oz after feminist organization Collective Shout pressured the government to deny his visa.
“Now [the UK government] are just followers. Everyone is a follower, just following what other countries are doing,” Tyler told The Guardian, suggesting the UK was taking cues from Australia in their ban. “Now I’m getting treated like a terrorist. I’m bummed out because it’s like, dude, I’m not homophobic. I’ve said this since the beginning. 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].”
Fast forward to today, a fan named Sam Roberts created a petition that asks the UK government to end Tyler’s ban immediately. The petition page states that the lyrics in question were “intended as adult humour” and no longer reflect the person Tyler is today, so many years later.
According to the page, this petition needs to receive at least 10,000 signatures to get a reaction from the government, and at least 100,000 signatures to be considered for debate in Parliament.