Mykki Blanco Arrested In Portugal “For Being Gay”
The gender-bending rapper Mykki Blanco is doing a residency at an art gallery in Lisbon right now, and his trip overseas isn’t going so well. As Noisey reports, Blanco was arrested at the airport Monday after an altercation with local police. During the encounter, he posted on Facebook, “I’M being arrested in Portugal for being gay,” followed by a second post, “Chilling in the Portuguese Police Station #FUCKPIGS GLOBALLY! haha.” He was fined 600 euros for telling a police officer to “go fuck [himself].” Here’s how Blanco explained the incident to Noisey:
…The altercation escalated because I waited in a long line outside the airport for a taxi and when I was told I could not use my credit card but only cash (which also is not true I later found), the taxi attendant and cop refused to help in any way. They were impatient and short with me all the while eagerly helping white tourists. A Portuguese woman in line with me even leaned over and whispered, ‘I don’t know why they are being so strange with you, there is a place inside to buy taxi vouchers you don’t need cash’. I should have listened to the woman and went inside to find the voucher office but there is a part of my personality that really wants to see if people WILL actually be prejudiced, to see if maybe my PC west coast optimism about the world is being challenged by blatant discrimination and I was right. I asked the police officer where the voucher office was and I was told to “go away” like I was a nuisance and when I asked why he could not help but the other white tourists I was yelled at and told to “go away bicha” which is a gay slur [according to Urban Dictionary: it is an offensive slur meant to challenge a man on his sexuality], even though I had waited in the same line as everyone else.
The Portuguese Public Security did not respond to Noisey’s request for comment. Blanco has continued to address the situation with a series of Facebook posts that have resulted in a fiery comment war. His most recent post from last night states, “I’m leaving Portugal after my performance. Please stop writing hate speech, threatening to hang me, posting pictures of slaves and leaving gay hate messages on my page, I have seen a really disturbing side of this culture tonight.” Check out a number of Blanco’s posts below.