New Zealand Lifts Ban Against Tyler, The Creator
Tyler, The Creator is now allowed to enter and perform in New Zealand after the country lifted its four-year ban against the rapper.
Stuff reports Immigration New Zealand confirmed the 28-year-old’s visa was approved and was “no longer deemed to be a potential threat to public order and the public interest.”
The “Igor’s Theme” emcee is now scheduled to headline New Zealand’s biggest annual music festival, Bay Dreams, for two dates this upcoming January. This will be his first performance in nearly eight years.
Tyler, born Tyler Gregory Okonma, was banned twice from visiting New Zealand.
The first ban came when him and former bandmates, Odd Future, was denied from performing at the Big Day Out festival seven years ago over alleged homophobic lyrics.
In 2014, the hip hop collective was scheduled to join Eminem at the open-air Rapture Festival, but were forbidden from entering the country because Immigration New Zealand deemed them “a potential threat to public order,” citing “incidents at past performances in which they have incited violence.”
Tyler even addressed the ban on his 2014 Cherry Bomb track, “Smuckers,” declaring: “I got banned from New Zealand, whitey called me a demon/ And a terrorist, God damn it, I couldn’t believe it.”
Tyler will also visit the United Kingdom territories to promote his latest album IGOR.
