Talk about an odd feud: Tegan & Sara vs. Tyler, the Creator.
The Canadian singer-songwriter siblings and the newly minted rap superstar of Odd Future are in a war of words after Sara Quin posted an “open letter of complaint” on the duo’s blog.
Titled A Call For Change, the posting accused Tyler Okonma of homophobia and misogyny — calling his lyrics “vile,” “hateful” and “sickening” — while blasting critics, the entertainment industry and other artists for supporting and praising him.
“As journalists and colleagues defend, excuse and congratulate ‘Tyler, the Creator,’ I find it impossible not to comment,” Quin wrote in the lengthy Friday post. “While an artist who can barely get a sentence fragment out without using homophobic slurs is celebrated on the cover of every magazine, blog and newspaper, I’m disheartened that any self- respecting human being could stand in support with a message so vile.
“I’ve asked myself a thousand times why this is pushing me over the edge. Maybe it’s the access to him (his grotesque twitter, etc). Maybe it’s because I’m a human being, both a girl and a lesbian. Maybe it’s because my mom has spent her whole adult life working with teenage girls who were victims of sexual assault. Maybe it’s because in this case I don’t think race or class actually has anything to do with his hateful message but has EVERYTHING to do with why everyone refuses to admonish him for that message.”
Tyler’s response, which came Sunday via his Twitter, was short and definitely not sweet: “If Tegan And Sara Need Some Hard D---, Hit Me Up!”
On a slightly more mature note, the rapper — who just released his first commercial CD Goblin — defended his provocative lyrics in a recent NME interview:
“It hurts me when people can’t see beyond the first layer,” he said.
“They don’t listen to the wordplay, or the patterns we use in the song, or the vocabulary we use. They just look at the word ‘sodomise,’ or ‘rape,’ or ‘b----’ or some s---, and just go like ‘Oh my God, did you hear what he just said?’
“A lot of people take stuff too seriously. So some of the time it’s actually for them, my subconscious doing it on purpose, just to piss them off. I want people to take that stuff too seriously, especially s--- like that. But, just, whatever. I try to preach be yourself and do what you want. It’s not our fault if they’re f---ing dumb enough to believe this s---… I just turned 20. I’m just living life and having as much fun as I can. I don’t think about s--- like that.
“I’m not homophobic. I just think f----- hits and hurts people. It hits. And gay just means you’re stupid. I don’t know, we don’t think about it, we’re just kids. We don’t think about that s---. But I don’t hate gay people. I don’t want anyone to think I’m homophobic.”
darryl.sterdan@sunmedia.ca
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