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Australian feminists, politicians rail against Tyler, the Creator

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Tyler, the Creator’s long list of offensive exploits last left off when he made an ad depicting a goat that beats women in pursuit of Mountain Dew.

Now, some brutal comments at a recent Australian show has united a right-wing politician and young feminists there in an attempt to get his visa revoked.

This latest tempest began earlier this week, when the Australian feminist group Collective Shout began a social media campaign to have Tyler’s touring visa canceled, on the grounds that his lyrics allegedly “promote(s) hate speech against women, perpetuating male entitlement to use women’s bodies...Tyler the Creator’s glorification of rape and violence against women could be considered inciting his fans to commit violent crimes against them.”

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Their efforts attracted an unlikely ally -- a conservative and male member of the Australian House of Representatives, Alex Hawke, who said that “allowing this man a visa to promote this misogyny to audiences, including children, is a complete disgrace and an insult to all of us, and to women in particular... The government and the minister have power to take action against this sort of intolerance and those encouraging the dehumanisation of women.”

(One should note that Hawke isn’t otherwise much of a feminist hero. He has long advocated conservative positions on abortion and age of consent for homosexual sex.)

The two groups have petitioned Prime Minister Julia Gillard to revoke his visa on grounds that he fails Australia’s “character assessment test” required to get a visa to visit the country.

Tyler, in his fashion, entered the fray when he retweeted a note of protest from the 24-year-old Collective Shout member Talitha Stone, who was promptly flooded with comments from angry Odd Future fans.

On Thursday night at a Sydney concert, however, Tyler then referred to Stone on stage with a number of unprintable epithets. Stone was in the audience (it’s unclear if Tyler knew she was there) and uploaded video of Tyler’s comments, telling the Guardian that “I was petrified. I was standing among the crowd of people who were chanting along with threats towards me.” Stone later wrote a Guardian editorial describing the experience.

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Tyler’s lyrics are famously rife with schlocky misogyny, not necessarily meant to be taken literally. But it’s hard to see how those violent onstage comments directed at a real person could be considered much of a joke.

Australian police are reportedly looking into the matter. We’ve reached out to reps for Odd Future and will update with any new comments or reactions from them.

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