Throughout his career, Tyler, The Creator's always presented his opinions in confusing, often seemingly contradictory ways. Similarly to Eminem in his Marshall Mathers heyday, the Odd Future rapper's use of homophobic language has often been countered by his actions, most notably his friendship with Frank Ocean (which was addressed on "Rusty"). The latest head-scratcher he's presented us with comes in the form of a shirt in his new GOLF Spring/Summer '15 collection, which contains the phrase "Golf Pride World Wide," rainbow coloring and... a White power symbol?
After no doubt hearing some criticism for this, Tyler took to Tumblr to explain himself. Read an excerpt below:
"Now it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know that these guys [White Supremacists] aren’t fans of Blacks, Gays, Asians or anything else that doesn’t fit in 'white' box.Now having the thought process that i have, i asked myself some questions: What if a black guy wore this logo on a shirt? Would he be promoting self hate? Would he be taking the power out of a shape? What if a gay guy wore this on a shirt? Would he promoting Homophobia? Then BAM! I Had it. Throw a little rainbow in the logo ( i still wonder, who was the guy that said a rainbow is the gay symbol? thats another article stay tuned) and take a photo with a white guy in it and we have an amazing photo. The thing that tops it off is the homo erotic tone of the hand holding, which to some degree HAS to piss off the guys who takes this logo serious. This made the photo even more important to me, because it was me playing with the idea of taking the power out of something so stupid. Or maybe my whole idea on this is stupid. Who knows, but why not try it out? Also, ever since my career started, ive been labeled as a homophobe, simply because of my use of the word faggot. Again, trying to take the power out of something, I WAS NEVER REFERRING TO SOMEONES SEXUAL PREFERENCE WHEN USING THAT WORD. I mean, i’m legit one of the least homophobic guys to walk this earth but, most people just read the surface. But maybe someone will see this photo and say 'hey, he’s just mocking gays' or 'this has a negative undertone to it, he is still pushing this homophobic whatever the fuck it is'. What ever it is, i just wanted to give you guys some background info on the design before you purchase the shirt. You should know what you are wearing. be safe, love. RACISM FUCKING SUCKS"
Thoughts?
[via]