Music

Das Racist detail detainment and deportation

by Anne T. Donahue

In case you haven’t yet heard, Brooklyn-based hip-hop outfit Das Racist was denied entry into the UK yesterday after what the group describes as “some sticklerism on the part of UK customs regarding paperwork”.

However, according to the band’s website, the three piece were subjected to more than just a simple ‘do not pass go’, and were allegedly “detained for 8+ hours in the airport” before being deported back to Switzerland. The trio also claim that while held, they were put in the company of “two Iranian men, a Brazilian woman who spoke only Arabic and an Indian man with a student visa who couldn’t speak a lick of English”, describing them as “our people”.

Yikes. To make matters worse, the group was also forced to consume “horrible sandwiches (cheese and onion, egg and cress, etc.)” in addition to “digestive biscuits” and “Walkers’ Crisps”. (Also known as a “student diet”. Those animals.)

But the real question of the hour remains: was the group’s inability to enter the UK really a result of paperwork gone awry? Or have Das Racist brought some long overdue attention to the timeless trend of racial profiling? At the very least, I’m sure we can expect a decent song out of it.

Check out AUX Weekly’s CMJ interview with Das Racist here.