An Australian feminist has received online death and rape
threats from fans of U.S. rapper Tyler the Creator after he mistakenly claimed she
had had him banned from the country.
Tyler, whose
real name is Tyler Okonma, tweeted to his2.48 million Twitter followers on Monday that he had been denied
a visa to play scheduled shows in Australia from September 3 to 8.
"You won
@CoralieAlison I'm happy for you," he wrote, in a post that was retweeted
more than 4,500 times.
The comment
unleashed a torrent of abusive tweets, many of them threatening and
misogynistic, towards Coralie Alison, director of operations for Collective Shout.
Collective Shout
is an Australian feminist organization which has campaigned to have the rapper
kept out of Australia.
"I'm coming
to kill you," wrote one user in a tweet directed at Alison," as
another tweeted that he had obtained her address.
"We will
all rape you," wrote another.
Claim incorrect
Tyler's post was incorrect though, as his
Australian tour promoter and Australia's Department of Immigration and Border
Protection later clarified.
The performer's
visa was still being assessed, a department spokesperson told CNN via email,
adding that "in cases where a person is assessed as representing a risk
that they may vilify or incite discord, or otherwise represent a danger to the
Australian community, a person may be refused a visa."
Collective Shout
began campaigning against the performer -- who is the leader of leftfield hip
hop collective Odd Future -- in 2013, on the grounds that his lyrics incite
hatred towards women.
"There is
an epidemic of violence against women," Alison told CNN via email.
"We can't
have a national plan to reduce violence against women at the same time as
rolling out the red carpet for rap artists with his history."
While she said
she had coped with the online abuse, she found it concerning.
"As
activists we are used to receiving abuse. But abuse from Tyler's fans is
particularly aggressive," she said.
"I have a
thick skin so I don't let it get to me, however it does raise concerns when
those that listen to Tyler's music go on to make rape and death threats. I draw
a correlation."
'Misogynistic hate speech'
In a letter to Immigration Minister Peter Dutton on Collective Shout's website, the
organization cites a lyric referencing strangling and chopping up a woman and
raping her corpse as an example of the rapper's "misogynistic hate
speech."
"The
messages (propagated) in these lyrics pose particular risk to the Australian
community by conveying the message that interpersonal conflict might be
legitimately resolved through violence," the letter reads.
In June 2013,
when Collective Shout activist Talitha Stone led the group's campaign for
Tyler's visa to perform in Australia to be revoked, she was barraged with misogynistic
threats from his fans.
When she
attended Tyler's show at Sydney's Enmore Theater, the rapper, apparently
unaware she was present, abused her from the stage, saying
"f***ing b*tch, I wish she could hear me call her a b*tch, too, f***ing
whore."
New Zealand ban
Tyler's group, Odd Future, was
subsequently banned from performing in New Zealand at a 2014 festival as they
were deemed by officials to be "a potential threat to public order and the
public interest for several reasons, including incidents at past performances
in which they have incited violence."
Odd Future had
previously been dropped from a New Zealand festival bill following pressure
from lobbyists.
Tyler, who had
earlier tweeted the Melbourne was his "favorite place," responded to
the controversy with a tweet stressing that he was not responsible for his
fans' actions.
"I am so
bummed that I can't go to a place that I fell in love with, it sucks, but yo, I
am not responsible for what others say, no way, ever," he
wrote.
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