Collective Shout Vow To Continue The Fight, Following Tyler, The Creator Tour Cancellation

Earlier this week, Frontier Touring officially announced that Tyler, The Creator‘s tour had been cancelled following a campaign started by women’s activist group Collective Shout who rallied against his tour because of his mysoginistic and sexually violent lyrics.

After week’s of abuse from the rapper’s fans following Tyler’s original tweet that he would not be coming to Australia, campaigns manager at Collective Shout Caitlin Roper has written a piece for Fairfax explaining why these campaigns are important and detailing the types of threats they received.

Roper believes that the promoters pulled the plug on the tour because they “sensed he was fighting a losing battle,” rather than the reason they gave which was that they wanted him to return when it wasn’t “surrounded in controversy.” Roper labelled this reason “implausible.”

According to Roper, over the past few week’s fans of Tyler have called members of the activist group “whores” and “bitches” and told them they “deserve to be raped.”

She noted that the most common argument they have had is “if you don’t like it don’t listen,” but clarified that the issue is larger than personal taste.

“Women and girls are harmed by this toxic culture,” she wrote.

“The glorification of violence against women as entertainment harms all women, not just those who say they choose to participate. Saying “If you don’t like it, don’t listen” makes as much sense as ‘if you don’t like pollution, don’t breathe’.”

It seems that Collective Shout are not singling out Tyler either. In the article, Roper also used Robin Thicke, Brian McFadden, Eminem and Redfoo as examples of those who have used “sexism or even sexualised violence to promote themselves.”

“Tyler the Creator was not the first artist we targeted and he will not be the last,” she concluded.

Gallery: Tyler, The Creator, Earl Sweatshirt @ Enmore Theatre, Sydney 6/06/13 / Photos: Ashley Mar

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