Tyler, the Creator has cancelled the portion of his ‘Cherry Bomb’ tour that covers Australia, which was due to start next month. Frontier Touring, who are concert promoters in Australia, recently announced on their Facebook page that Tyler, the Creator wouldn’t be appearing in the countryfor his tour and offered a refund for anyone that bought a ticket. The rapper has attracted a lot of controversy during his career and got in trouble in Australia in 2013, when the grassroots movement Collective Shout campaigned to have his visa revoked for his misogynistic content.
In the aftermath of this incident, New Zeland banned him in 2014. Late last month, he hinted on Twitter he had been banned from Australia.
The cancellation of the tour will no doubt cause a lot of disappointment for hisfan base in Australia, who haven’t seen him perform there for a number of years. Tyler released a statement which was typically in character saying: “We would much rather come to Australia when it isn’t surrounded in controversy. I love my fans and hopefully I’ll be back. Don’t do drugs.” This only forms the latest chapter in an ongoing feud between the two parties, once Collective Shout found out that Tyler, the Creator was preparing to tour in Australia they were quick to rekindle the fight and asked Immigration to deny him a visa.
Collective Shout co-founder Melinda Tankard Reist said: “We believe he is in breach of his visa conditions, which state very clearly that you cannot come here and propagate, vilify or incite discord in the Australian community.”
Until the issues between both parties are resolved, the former Odd Future rapper will be staying away from Australia when it comes to performance related business.
There is a lot of disheartenment for his fans overseas, however Tyler, the Creator’s fans in America have a lot to look forward to, as he announced a joint tour with New York rapper ASAP Rocky and confirmed that respective associates Danny Brown and Vince Staples would be joining them. The tour is a huge development for the rapper given that Odd Future and ASAP Mob previously had differences and weren’t happy about the comparisons that they were drawing to each other.
Being banned from countries isn’t something that’s new to rappers and hip-hop in general as it happened with many notable names such as Eminem and Snoop Dogg [VIDEO]. Unfortunately, fans lose out the possible experience.
