Tyler, the Creator has addressed the harsh reception that Drake received as the surprise headliner at Tyler’s Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival on Sunday night.
In a series of all caps, expletive-laced tweets early Monday, Tyler wrote that he thought that bringing “one of the biggest artist[s] on the... planet to a musical festival was fire!” But, he added, his choice of Drake was “a lil tone deaf knowing the specific crowd it drew.”
Many fans had expressed hope that Sunday’s mystery act — represented on the show’s poster with several question marks — would turn out to be Frank Ocean, Tyler’s onetime partner in the Los Angeles hip-hop collective Odd Future, who hasn’t performed in concert since 2017. An uptick in recent activity from the reclusive Ocean, including the release of two new singles, only bolstered that desire.
Instead, Tyler brought out ASAP Rocky, Lil Uzi Vert and Drake, the last of whom caught a round of boos as showgoers seemed to realize that Ocean would not appear.
“Some created a narrative in their head,” Tyler wrote on Twitter, “and acted out like ... when it didnt come true and I dont ... with that.”
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Willow Smith performs during Day 2 of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival at Dodger Stadium parking lot in Los Angeles. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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A man holds a giant rose as he watches Willow Smith perform. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Fans watch Willow Smith perform during Day 2 of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Willow Smith performs during Day 2 of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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FKA Twigs performs during Day 2 of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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FKA Twigs performs at Camp Flog Gnaw. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Blood Orange performs during Day 2 of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Blood Orange performs Camp Flog Gnaw. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Brockhampton performs during Day 2 of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Blood Orange performs. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Fans cheer as Brockhampton performs at the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Brockhampton performs. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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YG performs during Day 2 of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival at Dodger Stadium parking lot. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Lil Uzi Vert makes a surprise appearance as seen on a large television screen in the headline slot that was split between Drake and A$AP Rocky as guests of Tyler, the Creator on the final day of Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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ASAP Rocky is seen performing on a large television screen at Camp Flog Gnaw. He was one of three mystery guests of Tyler, the Creator on the festival’s final day. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Fans are silhouetted as Drake is seen performing on a large television screen as a special guest on the final day of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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ASAP Rocky, left, is seen performing on a large television screen with Tyler, the Creator on the final day of the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Drake is seen performing on a large television screen at Camp Flog Gnaw. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Drake, seen performing on a large television screen at Camp Flog Gnaw (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Tyler, the Creator performs on the Camp Stage at the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Tyler, the Creator looks for crowd reaction at the Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
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Tyler, the Creator performs on the Camp Stage at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival at Dodger Stadium. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)
He went on to thank Drake for performing and to scold those who booed. “Yall represented me and Flog to my guest and made us look sooo entitled and trash,” he wrote, before comparing the incident to “cancel culture in real life.”
For his part, Drake took the crowd’s reaction in stride, according to DJ Akademiks, the popular YouTube personality who wrote on Twitter that the superstar rapper told him he welcomed the “moment of humility.”
Sunday “was just not my night,” Drake was quoted as saying in Akademiks’ tweet. “Wasn’t who they wanted to see.”
