Odd Future's Big Day Out invite revoked A rap group which was dumped from the Big Day Out line-up for its homophobic, violent and misogynistic lyrics is facing a new backlash ahead of its second visit to New Zealand. LA ensemble Odd Future Wolf Gang Kill Them All ended up doing a solo show in 2012 after being removed from the Big Day Out line-up in at the request of venue owner Auckland Council, following complaints about misogyny and lyrics like ‘come take a stab at it faggot, I pre-ordered your casket’. The critically-acclaimed but divisive collective responded by making a t-shirt with two tomcats having sex, which read “two dudes” and “Big Gay Out”. Now Odd Future is due back in Auckland again as part of Eminem’s Rapture event at Western Springs this weekend. The anti-exploitation group Stop Demand is now asking Auckland Council to step in once again. “It is astonishing that in light of the nationwide outcry and soul-searching that arose over the Roast Busters’ incident, and the sexual callousness of some young men towards women, Auckland Council is about to allow a group that glorifies rape and rape culture to perform on Council-owned property – and at an ‘all ages’ event,” the group’s founder Denise Ritchie says. She points out pulling music acts on Council-operated property is not unprecedented, as the same group was axed from performing at Mt Smart Stadium in 2011, as was reggae’s Beenie Man in 2009, both on the grounds of offensive homophobic lyrics. “When it comes to deeply offensive misogyny, and the endorsement of rape culture, the rights of women and girls should be no less than the rights of the gay community,” Ritchie says. Headliner at the show Eminem also has a history of violence, misogyny and homophobia in his lyrics. In his latest album, he raps that he will ‘break a motherf**ker’s table over the back of a couple off faggots and crack it in half,’ and says ‘you fags think it’s all a game till I walk a flock of flames off a plank’. Eminem says the words don’t represent what he really thinks, but are from his persona Slim Shady who is a character he’s created to represent the worst of American society.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 13th February 2014 - 10:22am