<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Odd Future were banned from entering New Zealand to play Eminem&amp;apos;s Rapture Festival in Auckland after Immigration officials &amp;quot;deemed [the group] to be a potential threat to public order and the public interest for several reasons, including incidents at past performances in which they have incited violence,&amp;quot; The Guardian reports.\r\nSpecifically, government officials cited a 2011 incident in Boston where members of Odd Future reportedly urged fans to attack police officials, leading to a dust-up that left one officer hospitalized. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s not a decision we take lightly and not one that happens often,&amp;quot; said Border Operations Manager Karen Urwin, adding that travelers who lose their visas over character concerns are not typically musicians, but white supremacist group leaders or well-known Holocaust deniers.\r\nSeven Hot Hip-Hop Crews: Odd Future\r\nAccording to a tweet from Christian Clancy, the group&amp;apos;s manager, New Zealand officials alerted OF to the ban an hour before their flight and &amp;quot;after approving and issuing visas.&amp;quot; De facto frontman Tyler, the Creator also chimed in, tweeting: &amp;quot;OF is banned from New Zealand, again. They said we were &amp;apos;terrorist threats and bad for the society&amp;apos; or whatever. Sick. They are Anti Golf.&amp;quot;\r\nThe &amp;quot;again&amp;quot; is most likely a reference to another 2011 incident when the group was dropped from the Big Day Out festival after the Auckland City Council said the group&amp;apos;s lyrics were misogynistic and homophobic. Language, however, is not the issue here, with Urwin saying: &amp;quot;If we banned people who used swear words, we wouldn&amp;apos;t have many people left in New Zealand.&amp;quot; Despite the new ban, high profile OF member Earl Sweatshirt recently performed at Auckland&amp;apos;s Laneway Festival.\r\nThis type of controversy is nothing new to Odd Future: Back in June 2013, Tyler invoked the ire of Australian feminist group Collective Shout and Alex Hawke, a conservative member of the Australian House of Representatives, both of whom lobbied for the rapper&amp;apos;s visa to be revoked over character concerns. While the OF honcho made it down under, he focused his vitriol towards Collective Shout member Talithia Stone, calling her a &amp;quot;fucking bitch&amp;quot; and a &amp;quot;fucking whore&amp;quot; during his show and adding, &amp;quot;Yeah, I got a sold-out show right now, bitch. Hey, this fucking song is dedicated to you, you fucking cunt.&amp;quot; Stone, who was in the crowd that night and videotaped the rapper&amp;apos;s tirade, filed a report with the police on the grounds of verbal abuse.\r\nIn 2011, in the midst of Odd Future sudden jump from the Tumblr pages to IRL, the group&amp;apos;s set at the Pitchfork Festival in Chicago was protested by a local advocacy group hoping to raise awareness about domestic violence, sexual assault and violence against gays and women."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/odd-future-banned-from-new-zealand-20140213>