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MusicTyler, The CreatorOct 20, 2025

Are Tyler, the Creator’s Fans Turning on Him?

Resurfaced tweets have led to renewed scrutiny of Tyler and his views.

By Precious Fondren
Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for Coachella

If you’ve been on social media this week, you’ve likely seen the ongoing discourse about Tyler, the Creator, and just how messy it’s gotten. What began as a heartfelt tribute to the late D’Angelo spiraled into a broader debate about race, fan culture, and accountability in Tyler’s career.

All of the noise started when Tyler posted multiple tributes following D’Angelo’s passing, reflecting on how the soul legend shaped his musical foundation. In one Instagram post, he recalled discovering Voodoo at as a youngin. 

“On my 9th birthday, march 6 2000, i landed at Sam Goody at the south bay galleria. i had $20 in birthday money and my eyes set on leaving with one thing. VOODOO by D'Angelo,” he wrote. 

Fans noticed that many of Tyler’s followers, a large portion of whom are white, left insensitive or simply out-of-touch comments under his tribute. Soon after, Tyler quietly “liked” an X post that called out this very behavior.

“Tyler’ fanbase hates black music despite Tyler himself having a very deep love and appreciation for it,” the post said. "[Tyler] has Charlie Wilson ,Erykah Badu, DJ Drama etc collaborations and they still refuse to engage with black art on any meaning level/ very cannibalistic.”

That “like” set off a firestorm. Left and right, people resurfaced Tyler’s old tweets, lyrics, and even imagery from his early career, including jokes, slurs, and moments many view as openly anti-Black. Some reminded him that the same racial insensitivity he was now condemning was once part of his brand.

“I don’t think people are shocked at all lol I think people are shocked that he is shocked," a TikTok user commented on a video explaining the discourse. 

“No one’s shocked I think people are just reminding him that HE is the reason he has the fanbase that he has," another person said in the comments. 

Others defended him, arguing this is just another case of the “annual fake outrage” against Tyler. They point to how he’s matured since the Goblin era, especially after Flower Boy shifted his music and image toward introspection and vulnerability. But for many, those aesthetic changes aren’t enough.

As old tweets resurfaced, including one that read, “I didn’t have sushi till I was in my 20s because my mom (like other Black people I grew around) thought eating raw anything was bad,” and another now-deleted tweet about hating Black History Month, the conversation deepened. Critics accused him of quietly deleting tweets instead of owning up to them.

“Tyler is gonna just have to take the heat and if anything if he’s truly genuine about unlearning his internalized anti-blackness he should be louder about his wrongs and his fans,” one fan thoughtfully wrote in the comments. "I enjoy his latest work but I will not listen to much before that.”

Cultural critic Kia Turner echoed that idea, saying “somebody on Tyler’s team deleted that ‘I hate Black History Month’ tweet. yeah…he’s gonna have to confront the issue head on and not with him and Pharrell talking about he needed to mature and making ‘house music.’”

It’s clear that the situation has become bigger than one artist or one fanbase. Many people now ponder one simple but complicated question out of all of this: Will Tyler publicly address his past or any of it? And really, if he did, at this point, would it matter?

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