Tyler, the Creator is facing mounting backlash after a tribute to D’Angelo spiraled into a heated debate about race, fan culture, and his own controversial past.
Why is Tyler, the Creator facing backlash after his D’Angelo tribute?
After neo-soul icon D’Angelo passed away on Oct. 14, Tyler shared a tribute post online to honor one of his biggest musical influences.
“We are so lucky to have been alive to enjoy his art,” Tyler wrote at the time. “My musical dna was helped shaped by this man. Forever grateful. Safe travels.”
However, the comments section under his post, which has since been turned off, were reportedly flooded with off-topic and insensitive replies from fans who either didn’t know D’Angelo or made jokes about when Tyler’s next album would drop. The tone-deaf responses sparked outrage across social media platforms, particularly among fans who felt they revealed a larger disconnect between Tyler’s audience and the Black artists he champions.
What did Tyler say that sparked more controversy?
In response to the wave of comments, Tyler tweeted and later deleted a tweet about “sun dodgers.” The term was interpreted by some as a derogatory way to refer to white people. While Tyler previously used the phrase in reference to ICE agents in an unrelated Instagram post, its use reignited long-standing criticisms about the racial dynamics within his fanbase.
How did fans and critics react online?
Reddit user margr3t_m pointed out that the situation revealed “the interesting ways in which Black music is heard but not truly digested” by non-Black fans. This opened up a wider discourse on X about how Tyler’s white fanbase engages with Black culture on a superficial level.
Update account Kurrco reported that Tyler hit like on a tweet which read, “tyler's fanbase hates black music despite tyler himself having a very deep love and appreciation for it. n***a has charlie wilson, erykah badu, dj drama etc. collaborations and they still refuse to engage with black art on any meaningful level. very cannibalistic.”
The post, widely circulated after the D’Angelo tribute, added fuel to an already growing fire.
Is Tyler being held accountable for his past behavior?
Some fans and critics are now pointing fingers back at Tyler himself, with HotNewHipHop and Hot 97 both reporting that Tyler is being accused of cultivating the very type of audience now under fire.
The rapper’s critics have resurfaced alleged tweets from his early Odd Future days, particularly from 2012 to 2014, where Tyler reportedly made anti-Black, misogynistic, and other offensive comments.
One of the most widely shared posts is from February 2014, where Tyler wrote, “I HATE BLACK HISTORY MONTH. WHY THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE TO FUCKING SEPERATE N****S STILL. ‘ OH, ITS PAYING HOMAGE TO OUR HEROS’ F*CK THAT.”
Other tweets criticized the Ferguson protests as performative: “AND BLACK PEOPLE ARE CURRENTLY MAD RIGHT NOW BUT IN 2 WEEKS WILL BE OVER IT CAUSE THEY REALLY DON’T CARE, COOL HASHTAG THO RIGHT?”
Has Tyler responded to the criticism?
So far, Tyler has not made any public statements addressing the backlash. However, Hot 97 notes that he appears to be quietly deleting some of the old tweets that have resurfaced.
In his Chromakopia album released last year, Tyler addressed his problematic past on the song “Thought I was Dead,” where he says, “Pull up old tweets, pull up old t-shirts, all that, I moonwalk over that bitch (Hee-hee).”