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Monkeypox is a gay thing. We must say it – Los Angeles Blade

Kim Martel

Ah, man, y’all are pedophiles!
For a little bit a money, you will sell a child!
Ain’t the LGBTQ a bunch a pedophiles!
You just see a dolla’ sign, ’cause y’all are pedophiles!
Y’all are sick, aye!
Y’all a bunch a pedophiles!
For a little bit of money, you will sell a child!
Ain’t the LGBTQ a bunch a pedophiles!

Excerpt from chorus to Tyson James’ latest hit, ‘Pedofiles’

By James Finn | DETROIT – Yesterday, when a Twitter follower alerted me to a viral music video that calls all LGBTQ people pedophiles and urges death to LGBTQ people, I was skeptical. I told myself that sort of thing would never survive major-platform rules against hate speech and incitement of violence. The anti-LGBTQ backlish is severe right now, but I figured my Twitter follower had to be exaggerating, at least a little. My second thought was that even if his assessment was spot on, not enough people had seen the video for YouTube managers to notice.

Rapper Tyson James has a runaway hit on his hands, a track that calls for death to LGBTQ people

I told myself I can’t possibly live in a country where explicit incitement to violence against a marginalized minority is tolerated.

I was dead wrong! No pun intended.

I followed a link to YouTube and watched a wildly popular video of Tyson James’ Pedofiles — my sense of horror mounting with each line. As you can see from the chorus lyrics above, the rap song is certainly hate speech. Claiming LGBTQ people sexually abuse and traffic children is as hateful as you can get, besides being obviously false.

But the video is much worse than dehumanizing.

At several points during the song, James raps that LGBTQ people should be killed. His rap is an outright call to violence, and based on the stomach-churning comments section, that’s exactly how his listeners (a jaw-dropping 125,000 people on YouTube alone, so far) are taking it.

Have a listen for yourself if you doubt me:

[embedded content]

Tyson James sighting a pistol in with a laser while rapping that LGBTQ people should be killed.

If you’d rather not watch, and I don’t blame you, here’s one example of a call to gun violence:

When groomin’ kids is something you embrace?
I got a gun and it goes sum’n like the bass (Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!)
It’s a crime now, and it’s time out for these men dressin’ in drag
Pull a nine out, time to sign out, you goin’ bye, now with that flag.

This bit suggests stoning as street justice:

Y’all might be handed over, I ain’t wastin’ time in prayer
You send your kids to hell, you sick, and you don’t even care
Maybe we should stone you, get you in the city square
Call it street justice

In case anyone fails to get the message, James waves around a laser-sighted pistol throughout the video, alternating it with a military-style assault rifle and flame thrower, brandishing them for emphasis when rapping that all LGBTQ people are groomers or pedopholes who should be killed.

He reinforces the pedophile theme with these lines:

Don’t let distractions stop you from seein’ what’s the biggest threat
It’s a slippery slope, let them get married, then bake their cake
Now it’s let them date little kids, if that’s who they wanna date

The comments section is … words fail me. Judge for yourself:

  • This has the Rittenhouse vibe but even better! I can see the passion in y’all with this one! I’m with you my brothers in Christ, Tyson and Bryson. Dead pedophiles never re offend 💯
  • his video was so well done! Expressed the anger we feel towards this EVIL that preys on children. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord!🙏🏻
  • Tyson, Bryson: y’all are astounding. Praise the Lord. You BROUGHT it. The “f word” part was HILARIOUSLY DOOOOOOOPE. Impressed, God Bless! [Commenter is referring to James using “fag” as a slur then claiming he meant British cigarettes. Funny? Maybe if you’re a 12-year-old boy who thinks playground slurs are edgy-cool.]
  • Sad day in this country when you can’t even call out “pedofiles” without possibly getting banned! Freedom of speech has been treaded on.
  • Visuals are fire literally! Giving the abominations a sneak preview of their afterlife I see! 🤣🔥
  • What I love about this song is that it shows just how FUCKING kind and conscientious everyone in America who is even bigoted against gays are being right now. It could be the Middle East and you could have gotten stoned to death. [Because anything short of stoning somebody to death is kind and conscientious?]
  • Word!!!!bout time someone speaks up about this perversion for exactly what it is!
  • The Army of the Lord is rising!!!! This song gave me chills especially with the sign flashing in the back HELL IS HOT!!!!!

Who is Tyson James?

According to the Washington Blade, this isn’t James’ first dance with extremist homophobia. He released a video in February celebrating being called a bigot while setting fire to LGBTQ Pride flags. In a different track from the same album, he raps “If you’re born a girl, you’re not a dude!” while spray-painting the word “ABOMINATION” onto a rainbow flag.

The Blade reports that James rose to fame celebrating Kyle Rittenhouse, the 17-year-old who fatally shot two men and wounded another in August of 2020 in Kenosha, Wis. Rittenhouse shot the three unarmed men during the civil unrest that followed the shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake, by a white police officer.

James has become very popular across platforms. On Spotify, his Rittenhouse track has racked up 680,000 listens. Maga Boys has garnered 876,000. On YouTube, those tracks clock in at 2.2 million and 634,844, respectively.

Pedofiles, dropped July 1, looks set to overtake both.

Why are major platforms giving hate speech and violent threats a pass?

I don’t know. I wish I had something profound and interesting to write about why YouTube, Apple, and Spotify allow this. Going by the plain text of YouTube’s terms of service, you’d think James’ video would have been snatched down moments after it went up.

This is YouTube’s publicly stated hate-speech policy:

“Hate speech is not allowed on YouTube. We remove content promoting violence or hatred against individuals or groups based on any of the following attributes: Age, Caste, Disability, Ethnicity, Gender Identity and Expression, Nationality, Race, Immigration Status, Religion, Sex/Gender, Sexual Orientation, Victims of a major violent event and their kin, Veteran Status.”

Spotify says the same thing: “We do not tolerate hate content on Spotify — content that expressly and principally promotes, advocates, or incites hatred or violence against a group or individual based on characteristics, including, race, religion, gender identity, sex, ethnicity, nationality, sexual orientation, veteran status, or disability.”

Apple? Ditto In fact, all three policies are remarkably similar.

So why are all three media behemoths platforming a rap artist who says all LGBTQ people are pedophiles? Do their entertainment lawyers tell them calling LGBTQ people pedophiles isn’t hateful or won’t incite hatred? Does anyone believe that?

What about the violent imagery of James appearing to shoot or try to shoot LGBTQ people? What about his specific suggestions of how LGBTQ people should be killed?

Are platform lawyers claiming his calls to violence don’t actually violate terms of service that explicitly forbid inciting violence? Seriously? I’m at a loss.

Hey Google, Apple, and Spotify! Wake up!

How about you acknowledge what you see right in front of your noses? Tyson James’ video is hateful and violent. It’s going to get people hurt and even killed. You can’t watch the video and not understand that. I can’t imagine why that doesn’t matter to you.

How about you take a lesson from Reddit?

As transgender advocate Alejandra Caraballo reported just yesterday, Reddit will enforce their hate speech policy on all content that equates LGBTQ people to groomers and pedophiles.

That seems like a no brainer, but good for Reddit for seeing the need and acting on it.

What’s the delay on your part, Google, Apple, and Spotify?

You’ve got the policies in place already. They look crystal clear. It’s time to act. LGBTQ people in the U.S. are in the crosshairs today. Calls for “death to the LGBTQ” by extremist preachers fill news and social media spaces this year. As I reported recently, a violent extremist with 13 assault rifles was arrested and jailed last month after making credible threats to shoot up a Pride parade.

He sounds eerily like Tyson James, right down to some of the same words and phrases. James is helping feed the anger and hatred so many right-wing extremists are directing against LGBTQ people this summer. I watched that video yesterday and I had to ask myself what country I live in. I had to ask myself how this can be real. But it is. Anti-LGBTQ extremism is growing and getting more violent sounding day by day.

The last thing we need are viral hate videos on major platforms inflaming extremists even further.

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James Finn is a columnist for the LA Blade, a former Air Force intelligence analyst, an alumnus of Queer Nation and Act Up NY, and an “agented” but unpublished novelist. Send questions, comments, and story ideas to [email protected]

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The preceding article was previously published by Prism & Pen– Amplifying LGBTQ voices through the art of storytelling and is republished by permission.