Sydney artist Spanian has been dropped from hip-hop collective One Day following his rant posted over the weekend that falsely claims pedophiles hide behind “gay pride” events.
Trigger warning: this article includes references to homophobia.
Hours after Tone Deaf reported on Spanian’s video, hip-hop collective One Day shared a public statement saying they no longer represent Spanian, “effective immediately”.
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“We strongly condemn Spanian conflating issues around child-grooming and pedophilia in connection to the LGBTQIA+ community during WorldPride in a recent Instagram video. This is very problematic – we understand that this language has a long history of being used to discredit and vilify the LGBTQIA+ community,” the statement began.
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It continued, “We believe in free speech and people’s rights to express themselves; we do not require that our clients and partners share the same views or beliefs as us. What we cannot tolerate though, are actions and speech which (whether intended or not) incite hatred and are harmful and dangerous to people, especially marginalised communities. We stand with, and support the LGBTQIA+ communities and WorldPride as a wonderful and important expression of love, empowerment, and self-determination.”
One Day acknowledged that Spanian has always been outspoken, but hasn’t previously used his platform to spread or inflict hate.
“Spanian’s brand has never been about censoring himself, or not offending people. But his brand has also never been about spreading/inciting hate, or punching down on marginalised communities. We believed his power always lay in lifting up his community, those who grew up in the streets, in social housing, and being an ally to the disenfranchised.
“Spanian’s commentary on these issues in no way reflect our values as a company and as individuals. We have been deeply upset by Spanian’s actions over the past 3 days and we acknowledge the harm caused by his Instagram video.
“Our company is no longer representing Spanian, effective immediately.”
If you are affected by this story and want to seek assistance, support is available to you. Contact QLife 1800 184 527 or webchat at qlife.org.au/resources/chat.
