After an eight-year ban Tyler, The Creator will return to the country to headline Bay Dreams festival.
Tyler, The Creator will return to New Zealand in 2020 after an eight-year ban, with plans to play the annual music festival Bay Dreams. The announcement comes after the news that New Zealand has lifted their ban preventing the rapper from entering the country. According to Hypebeast, Immigration New Zealand have approved Tyler’s visa, saying he “is no longer deemed to be a potential threat to public order and the public interest”.
In January 2020 Tyler will headline the Bay Dreams festival alongside Skepta, Halsey, Netsky, Yelawolf and Sub Focus. It will be his first gig and appearance in the country in eight years.
The IGOR rapper was first banned from entering New Zealand back in 2014 due to controversy over the group Odd Future’s lyrical content. The country’s immigration department infamously deemed the group as a “threat to public order”, blocking them from entering the country in 2014 ahead of their slot at Rapture Festival alongside Eminem. The decision comes not long after the UK’s decision to lift Tyler’s four-year ban on entering the country back in May.
Tyler referenced the New Zealand ban on Smuckers from his 2015 album Cherry Bomb: “I got banned from New Zealand, whitey called me a demon/ And a terrorist, God damn it, I couldn’t believe it.”
