Tyler, the Creator Cancels Australian Tour After Feminist Protests

Tyler, the Creator won’t be performing in Australia anymore, following pressure from a feminist group that protested his upcoming tour.

The Odd Future rapper’s tour company announced the news in a statement on Facebook, writing:

Frontier Touring regret to announce the cancellation of the Australian leg of Tyler, The Creator’s Cherry Bomb World Tour which was scheduled to begin next month.

“We would much rather come to Australia when it isn’t surrounded in controversy. I love my fans there and hopefully I’ll be back soon. Don’t do drugs.” – Tyler, The Creator

Although no specific reason was given for the cancellation (he was expected to perform four dates), Tyler faced heavy criticism from the group Collective Shout, which describes itself as a “grassroots campaigning movement against the objectification of women and sexualization of girls in media, advertising and popular culture.”

The group started a petition to deny Tyler’s Australian Visa, describing him as a “misogynist pro-rape rapper” and citing lyrics from his 2009 song “French,” where he raps about fucking a corpse. (It’s worth noting that in 2011 Tyler told Spin, “Talking about rape and cutting bodies up, it just doesn’t interest me anymore. What interests me is making weird hippie music for people to get high to.”)

Last month, Tyler tweeted about being banned from Australia (although his visa had not actually been denied) and directly mentioned a member of Collective Shout. He was accused of encouraging harassment.

Collective Shout has gone head to head with Tyler in the past, so this isn’t a first.

In case you’re wondering why Tyler in particular, the group has an entire Q&A section on their site dedicated to responding to criticism of the protest, including questions about free speech, satire, artistic evolution (as noted above) and accusations of racism.