Tyler, The Creator has commented on the ban from the UK by the Home Office which last week forced him to cancel four shows in the UK and Ireland including appearances at Reading and Leeds.
Speaking to The Guardian, he said that he is "being treated like a terrorist," revealing that he was only informed of the "3-5 year" ban when he arrived at the UK border. "Monday was one of the shittiest days I’ve ever had. I was in a detention room; I felt like a criminal. And then [a Border Force officer] showed me lyrics from songs … literally, a paper with five lines of lyrics, and four were from Bastard songs and one was from ‘Tron Cat’. I never perform those songs."
He goes on: "The thing that irks me about it is that the paper saying I am denied entry to the UK clearly states that these songs were written from [the perspective of] an alter ego – which means they obviously did some research on these songs that they’re detaining me for. So the argument is right there! This song is written from an alter ego – I’m not like this! You could watch any interview and see my personality, see the guy I am. I wouldn’t hurt a fly.
"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."
Speaking more widely on the issue, Tyler says that the ban sets a precedent for further censorship. "This is only gonna open a door for other people to get banned. And then they’re gonna go after video games, and then they’re gonna go after movies, and we’re gonna live in such a sensitive world. It’s like the world is scared of everything. I feel like everyone is so sensitive to everything, and if they don’t like something it’s like: ‘Oh my God, I don’t like the colour yellow – let’s get yellow banned from every country, let’s sign a petition – let’s start a hashtag to make sure this colour is never seen, because I don’t like it and I don’t understand it.’"
