LOS ANGELES _ 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."
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."
