Gay rapper Mykki Blanco hits out at YouTube after video removal branded homophobic
Gay rapper Mykki Blanco’s video “Loner” has returned to YouTube after it was taken down for failing to meet the “community guidelines.”
Fans of Blanco accused YouTube of censoring the video because of “homophobia” as the offending clip that led to the video being taken down was of a mans bulge.
Blanco took to twitter to defend his video, accusing the video host of censoring queer sexuality because it “does not fit with heterosexual standard of beauty.”
“Why is Queer sexuality censored & policed but images for a Cis male gaze of sexualised women are not?” Blanco tweeted.
“Our society grants hetero privilege to parade overly sexualised images of women for a cis male gaze yet Queer imagery is policied, demeaned.”
The video was unavailable for a few hours because of a frame which showed bare legs and a bulge – neither of which violate the websites nudity and sexual content rulings.
It now has a content warning which requires users to sign into their account to prove their age before watching.
Blanco said he was “deeply saddened” that youtube “engaged in this kind of homophobic double standard censorship.”
He told Mic: “It is exhausting that as a queer artist not only do I experience homophobia in the entertainment industry but also censorship for the unapologetically queer imagery I promote.
“I don’t want homophobia to be a part of my narrative but when things such as a double standard censorship of my work happen once again it rears its ugly head.
“YouTube allows for the cis male gaze to demean women in provocative, hyper sexualised imagery, yet bans my music video for the appearance of a few seconds of a man’s ‘bulge’ underneath a skirt,” the rapper added.
Blanco’s management have expressed outrage at Youtube’s decision to censor the video because other sexual imagery is available “with no requirement for age verification.”
David Swartz of !K7 Music, management for Mykki Blanco, said: “We now wonder why this is necessary. Countless videos across the YouTube platform featuring overtly and blatantly sexual imagery (and actual nudity) are available with no requirement for age verification, so why is that so for this video by Mykki? Why does YouTube want to restrict access to this video? Why does YouTube see this video as any different than all those which have completely open access to users of all ages?”
You can watch ‘Loner’ here:
