Tyler, the Creator owes a lot of his popularity and notability to his ability to instigate. His presence in the media over the last few years has been approximately 1/3 music related, 1/3 publicly dissing other artists, and 1/3 lewd, offensive, or otherwise borderline illegal activity. The fact that there is a section of his Wikipedia page solely about "feuds" should be an indication of the type of eccentric character he is. But, even with this history in mind, is he to blame for potential safety hazards amongst a crowd of rowdy fans at a music festival? And is he deserving of a Class A Misdemeanor with a $25,000 bail? The answer should be a resounding no.
So some festival goers got a little caught up in the heat of the moment and broke through a security gate, why should he have to bear full responsibility for hundreds of other people's actions? It's not like he's the first musical artist to make headlines because a crowd's safety was called into question at a performance. And even if this was the very first instance of a crowd becoming potentially dangerous at a concert, the keyword is potentially, after all he only "encouraged behavior causing an immediate danger and injury to persons," according to police. The charge is in it of itself subjective, as "encouraged" can be perceived in many different ways, but the point is he himself didn't pose any threat or danger to the crowd of attendees at his show. If anyone is to accept blame for this incident, it should be no one other than the crowd of people in attendance. Unlike most other music festivals, SXSW has an age restriction; to even be able to buy tickets to see any events throughout the week you have to be able to prove that you’re at least 18 years old. This means then that everyone in the crowd who caused “the scene reportedly almost became violent” is legally an adult, and they should be treated as such. If it was a group of adults that broke down an outside gate chanting “PUSH, PUSH, PUSH,” then it should be a group of adults who are charged with whatever consequences result from this kind of behavior. Placing the onus completely on Tyler, the Creator for encouraging reckless behavior sounds like as good of an excuse as a child making the timeless attempt to get out of trouble by saying someone else “made them do it.”
If the local law enforcement and festival security really wanted to make a point that they don't condone that type of activity at their event, they should've rounded up everyone in the crowd at the time and given them a fine for inciting a riot. I wouldn't call Tyler, the Creator a martyr, but to say that an artist who may have contributed to a performance scene that almost became violent deserves to be detained on $25,000 bail blows the incident out of proportion, is a gross understatement.
On a more metacognitive level, I've discovered through this blog lens that being a devil's advocate and offering sympathy for the devil often means forcing more responsibility on the general public. This story seems like a prime example of this trend, and testament to the broad idea that placing the onus on many can prevent the persecution or injustice of a few.
