Tyler, The Creator felt like a "criminal" and a "terrorist" when he was banned from entering the United Kingdom.
The ‘Yonkers’ rapper was denied entry into Britain last week after being told the home secretary had banned him for the next three to five years because lyrics from his past albums express "behaviours unacceptable in the UK".
Speaking about how he had to cancel a number of appearances, including those scheduled for Reading and Leeds festivals, Tyler said: "Monday was one of the s**ttiest days I’ve ever had. 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, ‘OK, they’re not letting you in the country.’ The paper said I couldn’t come at all, saying that I support homophobia and acts of terrorism, and [it said] some other stuff. I’m just like, one, none of that is true, and two, I was here seven weeks ago. I rented out a movie theatre for a show. I did something really awesome, and it was no problem."
The 24-year-old star also explained that he wrote the songs from the mindset of an alter-ego, something the documents he was presented with recognised.
He told The Guardian newspaper: "The thing that irks me about it is that the paper saying I am denied entry to the UK clearly states that these songs were written from [the perspective of] an alter ego – which 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."
And Tyler has admitted he’s worried this is just the start of over the top attempts to censor artists.
He added: "This is only gonna open a door for other people to get banned. And then they’re gonna go after video games, and then they’re gonna go after movies, and we’re gonna live in such a sensitive world."
Tyler, The Creator felt like a ‘criminal’ and ‘terrorist’
