Fri 30 Sep 2011 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
A much-hyped and much-defended California hip hop collective is bringing its bagful of homophobic, misogynistic and violent lyrics to the January Big Day Out, led by a frontman who says he is not homophobic but uses the word faggot because it "hits and hurts people". The lyrics spewed out by Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All (known as OFWGKTA or just Odd Future) at Mt Smart Stadium are likely to include the word faggot, a word which occurs at least ten times in their frontman's solo album Goblin. One song features the line “Come take a stab at it faggot, I pre-ordered your casket”. The group has been denounced by GLAAD, whose Associate Director of Entertainment Media Matt Kane says frontman Tyler the Creator "writes some of the most violently anti-gay and misogynistic music currently enjoying mainstream recognition". Kane has called on the media and music critics to think harder, saying they have often defended Tyler and Odd Future by implying such language is simply part of their musical persona and should be seen as ironic. "What's really ironic is that in a time when the public is becoming more supportive of LGBT people and other major artists are showing their support through their music, Tyler and Odd Future are padding their lyrics with anti-gay slurs and dangerous, violent rhetoric," Kane says. "But there is nothing ironically clever about hate speech, particularly when a significant part of those listening are adolescents seeking to emulate their favourite artists. It's simply irresponsible and destructive." Perez Hilton and musician B.O.B. are among those who have slammed the group, the latter himself being targeted with the line "I'll crash that fuckin airplane that that faggot nigga Bob was in." B.O.B. has written his own song in response entitled "No Future". When questioned by NME about criticism of the homophobia in their music, Tyler responded: "I’m not homophobic. I just think 'faggot' hits and hurts people. It hits. And 'gay' just means you’re stupid. I don't know, we don’t think about it, we're just kids. We don’t think about that shit. Tyler was also taken to task by Sara Quin, one half of Canadian lesbian alternative pop duo Tegan and Sara, who has blogged: "While an artist who can barely get a sentence fragment out without using homophobic slurs is celebrated on the cover of every magazine, blog and newspaper, I'm disheartened that any self-respecting human being could stand in support with a message so vile." She continued: "As journalists and colleagues defend, excuse and congratulate 'Tyler, The Creator', I find it impossible not to comment. In any other industry would I be expected to tolerate, overlook and find deeper meaning in this kid's sickening rhetoric? Why should I care about this music or its 'brilliance' when the message is so repulsive and irresponsible? "Is Tyler exempt because people are afraid of a backlash? The inevitable claim that detractors are being racist, or the brush-off that not 'getting it' would indicate that you’re 'old' (or a faggot?) Because, the more I think about it, the more I think people don't actually want to go up against this particular bully because he's popular." Tyler’s response was through Twitter: "If Tegan and Sara Need Some Hard Dick, Hit Me Up!" There are also plenty of non-hateful musicians in the Big Day Out line-up so far, and we will have full details soon. The Big Day has brought many queer and queer-friendly artists to Australia and New Zealand throughout its history and in 2009 revoked its invitation to anti-gay Jamaican reggae artist Beenie Man after public outcry. You can discuss this story on the GayNZ.com forum here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 30th September 2011 - 12:33am