Tyler, The Creator breaks silence on Eminem’s homophobic ‘Kamikaze’ slur

Eminem had previously apologised

Tyler, The Creator has broken his silence on a homophobic slur made against him from Eminem on last year’s ‘Kamikaze‘.

Eminem made headlines last year when he hit out at the Odd Future leader on ‘Kamikaze’ track ‘Fall’.

Tyler create nothing, I see why you called yourself a f****t, bitch,” he rapped. “It’s not just ’cause you lack attention/It’s because you worship D12’s balls, you’re sack-religious/If you’re gonna critique me, you better at least be as good or better.”

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While Marshall Mathers later apologised and admitted that he “went too far” with the lyric, Tyler has remained quiet on the topic. However now, in a new interview with The Guardian, he has said that he didn’t really pay it much mind.

“[It was] OK,” he said when asked about the ‘Fall’ line. “Did you ever hear me publicly say anything about that? Because I knew what the intent was. He felt pressured because people got offended for me. Don’t get offended for me. We were playing Grand Theft Auto when we heard that. We rewound it and were like: ‘Oh, [shrug].’ And then kept playing.”

Speaking out about his regrets over the lyrics last year, Eminem told Sway: “I was angry when I said that shit about Tyler. The fact of like every time I saw this kid, he was always cool to you. I loved his energy. He was a funny dude and he’s super charismatic and shit. But I’m sitting back like, ‘Man at what point do I have to say something to defend myself?’”

He continued: “The word I called him on that song was one of the things that I felt like, ‘This might be too far.’ In my quest to hurt him, I realise I was hurting a lot of other people by saying it. At the time, I was so mad it was whatever … It was one of the things that I kept going back to and going, ‘I don’t feel right with this.’”

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The new interview also saw Tyler speak of his experience of being banned from the UK by former Prime Minister Theresa May, after she claimed that his songs “encourage[d] violence and intolerance of homosexuality” and “foster[ed] hatred with views that seek to provoke others to terrorist acts.”

“I got treated like a terrorist,” he said. “Yeah. I got treated like I was a murderer.It was kind of stupid, and after a while I was like: I don’t even want to come back. But it was more the principle of: ‘Y’all really did this, over this? In comparison to other shit people do, that y’all let in?’ So I’m happy that I got back. I feel like I won some invisible fight.”

Since his ban was lifted, this summer saw Tyler return to the UK for a stellar show at London’s O2 Academy Brixton. Reviewing the gig, NME concluded that “Tyler, the Creator is a provocateur. The comeback show was one of shock and awe, a lightning bolt that illuminates the mood of the time.”

This year also saw Tyler release his latest album ‘IGOR’ to critical acclaim.

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