Why did Tyler, The Creator get banned from the UK?
Tyler, the Creator has often experienced blowback for his provocative lyrics, but, in 2015, the situation became much more serious. That summer he tried to enter the United Kingdom for some gigs, but, under the direct instruction of the then-home secretary, Theresa May, he was denied entry. He was turned away at the border because of his words.
Tyler was naturally furious, and he reflected on the ban with The Guardian not long after it had been imposed. “Monday was one of the shittiest days I’ve ever had,” he said. “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. Thirty minutes later, the guy comes in, he gives me a paper, and he says, ‘Okay, they’re not letting you in the country.’”
The reason? “The paper,” explained Tyler, “said I couldn’t come at all, saying that I support homophobia and acts of terrorism, and [it said] some other stuff.”
Tyler was issued with an official document explaining that the home secretary, Theresa May, had decided that his presence in the UK “would not be conducive to the public good” and that his rhetoric may “foster hatred, which might lead to intercommunity violence in the UK.” The letter specifically cited Tyler’s first two albums, noting, “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.”
Responding to those claims in the Guardian interview, Tyler said, “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]. 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.”
Tyler was particularly incensed that the government’s letter specifically noted that his songs had been written from the perspective of an alter ego. This, he argued, “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.”
This UK ban had come off the back of Tyler’s troubles entering New Zealand and Australia, too. “When the Australia thing happened, I was like, ‘Wow, okay,’” Tyler said. “Then the UK thing happened, and it’s like, ‘Okay, 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.” The UK government, in the decade since Tyler’s ban, has indeed faced accusations by human rights groups that it is restricting freedom of expression.
Tyler’s ban was lifted by 2019, and the following year he won a Brit Award for International Male Solo Artist. Accepting his award, he made sure to thank someone special. “I wanna give a special shout out to someone who I hold dear to my heart, who made it where I couldn’t come to this country five years ago,” he said. “I know she’s at home pissed off. Thank you Theresa May.”