Rapper Tyler, the Creator is courting controversy with the creation of a new T-shirt which uses neo-Nazi symbolism to promote gay rights.
The Odd Future star has released a T-shirt using the White Pride World Wide symbol fashioned in rainbow colours, to represent gay pride, and a promotional photo features the 24-year-old holding another man's hand while wearing the design.
He writes on Tumblr.com, "It was a period in time where all i [sic] wanted to do was read about different dictators across the world... This opened a door to a lot of things, one of them being the Nazi regime during the 40s. Soaking my brain with as much info as i could on the subject, i pondered to myself if there was anyone still pushing this Nazi propaganda during these days? That is when i came across Neo-Nazis, The Ku Klux Klan and The White Nationalist Community. To make it simple, its [sic] just a group of Caucasians who take pride in being white...
"Now it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that these guys aren't fans of Blacks, Gays, Asians or anything else that doesn't fit in [the] 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... 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 p**s off the guys who takes this logo serious [sic]. 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."
Tyler, the Creator goes on to defend himself against assumptions he is homophobic, adding, "Also, ever since my career started, ive [sic] been labeled as a homophobe, simply because of my use of the word f**got. Again, trying to take the power out of something, I WAS NEVER REFERRING TO SOMEONES [sic] 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 f**k 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 F**KING SUCKS".
WENN.com
source: newshub archive
