Why Tyler the Creator Used a Neo-Nazi Symbol on His Anti-Homophobia T-Shirt
Image via Golf Wang on tumblr
It’s very rare that we ever see Tyler the Creator give a lengthy explanation about something he’s doing. Usually he just does things and waits to see the good, bad and mixed reactions from everyone. However, things are much different this time. For one of the shirts from his upcoming GOLF Spring/Summer ’15 collection, Tyler felt it was his responsibility to give his fans an explanation before they rush out and buy a shirt with a neo-Nazi symbol on it.
Tyler’s Golf Media app features frequent articles written by himself on various topics. His most recent explained the background of the symbol and why he chose to use it for an anti-homophobia shirt—as well as explaining the accompanying photo. Because Tyler understands that there are probably some people who did not purchase his app, he decided to also share the article on the Golf Wang tumblr page.
In the article, Tyler explained that the idea came to him while he was reading and researching about different dictators across the world as well as white supremacy:
1.
Image via Golf Wang on tumblr
It’s very rare that we ever see Tyler the Creator give a lengthy explanation about something he’s doing. Usually he just does things and waits to see the good, bad and mixed reactions from everyone. However, things are much different this time. For one of the shirts from his upcoming GOLF Spring/Summer ’15 collection, Tyler felt it was his responsibility to give his fans an explanation before they rush out and buy a shirt with a neo-Nazi symbol on it.
Tyler’s Golf Media app features frequent articles written by himself on various topics. His most recent explained the background of the symbol and why he chose to use it for an anti-homophobia shirt—as well as explaining the accompanying photo. Because Tyler understands that there are probably some people who did not purchase his app, he decided to also share the article on the Golf Wang tumblr page.
In the article, Tyler explained that the idea came to him while he was reading and researching about different dictators across the world as well as white supremacy:
2.
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 “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 ( i still wonder, who was the guy that said a rainbow is the gay symbol? thats another article stay tuned) 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 piss off the guys who takes this logo serious. 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.
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Read his full explanation here.