Fri 4 Nov 2011 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
As the Big Day Out remains mum, a petition has been launched to try and keep hip hop collective Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All on the bill for the Auckland leg of the festival. Auckland Council has confirmed the divisive group will not perform at the venue it owns, Mt Smart Stadium, due to the nature of their lyrics. Pro-Odd Future petition creator Dylan Kelley states he is making the pledge for Odd Future to perform to Auckland Council and Big Day Out bosses, "Because it's incredibly stupid to ban them, and they're the best reason to go in an otherwise disappointing lineup." More than a hundred people have already signed the petition, with reasons ranging from "cause odd future are amazing and banning them is stupid and oppressive" to "People need to harden the fuck up. Take shit as it comes." Odd Future throw the word 'faggot' around constantly in their lyrics and rap about rape and violence against women, with lines such as "cause every girl I deal and fuck, it's always against her will", lyrics which fans claim are simply so offensive they can't be taken seriously. The group's frontman Tyler the Creator has told MTV News: "Well I have gay fans and they don't really take it offensive, so I don't know. If it offends you, it offends you." Another fan on the change.orgpetition adds the group should be able to perform, "Because OFWGKTA are a critically lauded group of artists whose oeuvre contains only a relatively small amount of objectionable content. Additionally, one of the members of Odd Future identifies as homosexual; and has no problem with the other members' artistic expression." DJ/engineer/producer Syd tha Kid is lesbian and in her video for her track Cocaine is seen getting romantic with a woman she meets, before they snort cocaine together and the woman passes out in her truck, and is then pushed out by Syd tha Kid and left passed out on the ground as she drives off. In an MTV interview she is seen in the backseat of a car, talking about her father, who thinks that her involvement with a group so misogynistic and anti-women could be seen as a slap in the face to a lot of women. "I'm like, that's what I do," Syd says, "I slap bitches," as the men in the car laugh and she smirks.