Drake Booed Offstage In Surprise Appearance At Camp Flog Gnaw
Prince Williams/Wireimage
It’s finally happened. Drake has shown up someplace where people are not excited to see him. This past weekend, Tyler, The Creator brought his Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival to Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. As always, the show included a lineup of huge stars, including Tyler, Solange, YG, Earl Sweatshirt, DaBaby, 21 Savage, FKA twigs, Juice WRLD, and Yasiin Bey. But when Tyler announced the lineup, the poster featured a set of question marks to indicate a surprise-guest headliner. The crowd expected Frank Ocean. They got Drake. They were not happy.
Last night, Tyler introduced surprise guest Drake, who came out in a Smashing Pumpkins shirt and performed nine songs, including a multiple-hit medley. But with plenty of time left in his allotted set, Drake addressed the audience: “I’m here for you tonight. If you want to keep going, I will keep going tonight. What’s up? If you want to keep going, I will keep going tonight.” The crowd: “Nooooo!” Drake: “Well, look. It’s been love. I love y’all. I go by the name of Drake. Thank you for having me.” And then he walked offstage. That was the end of the festival.
There are many different fan-shot videos of Drake ending his set early. In the different videos, you can hear the boos at different volume levels; maybe some corners of the crowd were more pissed off than other. But that crowd was pretty clearly booing Drake, and they were pretty clearly chanting, “We want Frank!” (Frank Ocean has only performed once at Camp Flog Gnaw, back in 2013.) Watch some very cringey videos below.
this was PAINFUL to watch drake literally got boo’d off stage #campfloggnaw pic.twitter.com/Ic6PenmPXc
— ➳ trash (@trashminajx) November 11, 2019
Drake was booked as a surprise headliner for the Camp Flog Gnaw festival, but the fans were expecting Frank Ocean, so he got booed pic.twitter.com/w24AJucsfh
— BallerAlert (@balleralert) November 11, 2019
Fascinatingly, Drake and Kanye West both made surprise appearances at younger rappers’ baseball-stadium festivals this past weekend. And Drake was the one who got booed.
This thing has been trending online ever since hit happened, and I’ve seen a lot of different reactions. Some people are incensed, writing that the Camp Flog Gnaw crowd didn’t deserve Drake. It’s embarrassing to them, embarrassing to Drake, embarrassing to Tyler. But to me, it’s pretty clearly an example of big stars failing to read the room.
Drake is, at present, the biggest pop star in the world. He has proven to be remarkably teflon, thriving even when there’s been tremendous backlash against his continued dominance. Even the whole “you are hiding a child” incident barely seemed to ding him. But Odd Future’s fanbase is the kind of young and knowingly contrarian group who will boo anything that’s overwhelmingly popular. Céline Dion wasn’t showing up to sing with Korn at the Family Values Tour, you know?
In any case, this is obviously extremely funny, and it will only become funnier when everyone involved tries to rap about it. The whole episode has already given us this one extremely funny video:
This was like 15 mins after Drake walked off and everybody realized Frank wasn’t coming, listen to this man scream pic.twitter.com/79NOgt8at7
— Ogo (@NerdyNigerian97) November 11, 2019
What will really be fascinating is whether this turns out to be the catalyst of some kind of larger Drakelash — whether it resonates historically as Drake’s Disco Demolition Night. My guess: Drake will be just fine.
You promised us The flyer only
Frank Ocean Said “???” pic.twitter.com/Bw6WG6jcW9— XXL Magazine (@XXL) November 11, 2019
UPDATE: Tyler has posted a tweet thread addressing the backlash against Drake last night. It begins, “I THOUGHT BRINGING ONE OF THE BIGGEST ARTIST ON THE FUCKING PLANET TO A MUSIC FESTIVAL WAS FIRE! BUT FLIPSIDE, A LIL TONE DEAF KNOWING THE SPECIFIC CROWD IT DREW. SOME CREATED A NARRATIVE IN THEIR HEAD AND ACTED OUT LIKE ASSHOLES WHEN IT DIDNT COME TRUE AND I DONT FUCK WITH THAT.” He also called it “mob mentality and cancel culture in real life.” Read his full comments below.
I THOUGHT BRINGING ONE OF THE BIGGEST ARTIST ON THE FUCKING PLANET TO A MUSIC FESTIVAL WAS FIRE! BUT FLIPSIDE, A LIL TONE DEAF KNOWING THE SPECIFIC CROWD IT DREW. SOME CREATED A NARRATIVE IN THEIR HEAD AND ACTED OUT LIKE ASSHOLES WHEN IT DIDNT COME TRUE AND I DONT FUCK WITH THAT
THIS NIGGA DID FEEL NO WAYS! SONG IS BEAUTIFUL. ALSO, MOSTLY EVERYONE WAS HAVING A GREAT TIME, THOSE SHITS IN THE FRONT AREA WERE THE ONES BEING MAD RUDE, WHICH, I CAN SEE WHY, BUT, NAH, FUCK THAT, YALL REPRESENTED ME AND FLOG TO MY GUEST AND MADE US LOOK SOOO ENTITLED AND TRASH
THAT SHIT WAS LIKE MOB MENTALITY AND CANCEL CULTURE IN REAL LIFE AND I THINK THAT SHIT IS FUCKING TRASH
NIGGA DID FEEL NO WAYS! THAT SONG IS BEAUTIFUL! MOST GUYS DONT DO ALBUM CUTS! THANK YOU AUBREY!
LIKE, I LOVE THAT SONG AND THOUGHT THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN…….HE REALLY DID THAT FOR ME AND I APPRECIATE IT BECAUSE HE DID NOT HAVE TO COME AT ALL, SEE OUR WORLDS COME TOGETHER WAS SO GREAT IN THEORY
BUT HEY MAN SHIT HAPPENS, ALL JOKES ASIDE SHIT LOWKEY FUNNY HAHAHA, ASIDE FROM THAT, HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GOOD TIME. AGAIN, NO ARREST NO BULLSHIT MAN A LOT OF PEOPLE ENJOYED IT, THANKS AGAIN!
YEAR 8! LOVE!
AGAIN, THANK YOU DRAKE! ( IM FUCKING PISSED HOTLINE BLING WAS NEXT THATS MY FUCKING SHIT IM GONNA PLAY THAT IN THE SHOWER RIGHT NOW) <3 OK LAST TWEET, I WAS IN THE FRONT, AND I HEAR "TYLLLERRRR!" AND I LOOK TO MY LEFT, AND THIS GIRL, RED FACE, PUFFY, WATERFALL OF TEARS LOOKED INTO MY SOUL AND SAID, TREMBLING WITH ANGER "...WHAT ..THE ..FUCK!.........IS THIS SHIT!" NIGGA I TURNED AWAY SO QUICK SHE WAS PISSED BRO THAT SHIT WAS NOT COOL DAWG K
And here are the original tweets:
I THOUGHT BRINGING ONE OF THE BIGGEST ARTIST ON THE FUCKING PLANET TO A MUSIC FESTIVAL WAS FIRE! BUT FLIPSIDE, A LIL TONE DEAF KNOWING THE SPECIFIC CROWD IT DREW. SOME CREATED A NARRATIVE IN THEIR HEAD AND ACTED OUT LIKE ASSHOLES WHEN IT DIDNT COME TRUE AND I DONT FUCK WITH THAT
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
THIS NIGGA DID FEEL NO WAYS! SONG IS BEAUTIFUL. ALSO, MOSTLY EVERYONE WAS HAVING A GREAT TIME, THOSE SHITS IN THE FRONT AREA WERE THE ONES BEING MAD RUDE, WHICH, I CAN SEE WHY, BUT, NAH, FUCK THAT, YALL REPRESENTED ME AND FLOG TO MY GUEST AND MADE US LOOK SOOO ENTITLED AND TRASH
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
THAT SHIT WAS LIKE MOB MENTALITY AND CANCEL CULTURE IN REAL LIFE AND I THINK THAT SHIT IS FUCKING TRASH
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
NIGGA DID FEEL NO WAYS! THAT SONG IS BEAUTIFUL! MOST GUYS DONT DO ALBUM CUTS! THANK YOU AUBREY!
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
LIKE, I LOVE THAT SONG AND THOUGHT THAT WOULD NEVER HAPPEN…….HE REALLY DID THAT FOR ME AND I APPRECIATE IT BECAUSE HE DID NOT HAVE TO COME AT ALL, SEE OUR WORLDS COME TOGETHER WAS SO GREAT IN THEORY
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
BUT HEY MAN SHIT HAPPENS, ALL JOKES ASIDE SHIT LOWKEY FUNNY HAHAHA, ASIDE FROM THAT, HOPE EVERYONE HAD A GOOD TIME. AGAIN, NO ARREST NO BULLSHIT MAN A LOT OF PEOPLE ENJOYED IT, THANKS AGAIN!
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
YEAR 8! LOVE!
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
AGAIN, THANK YOU DRAKE! ( IM FUCKING PISSED HOTLINE BLING WAS NEXT THATS MY FUCKING SHIT IM GONNA PLAY THAT IN THE SHOWER RIGHT NOW) <3
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
OK LAST TWEET, I WAS IN THE FRONT, AND I HEAR "TYLLLERRRR!" AND I LOOK TO MY LEFT, AND THIS GIRL, RED FACE, PUFFY, WATERFALL OF TEARS LOOKED INTO MY SOUL AND SAID, TREMBLING WITH ANGER "…WHAT ..THE ..FUCK!………IS THIS SHIT!" NIGGA I TURNED AWAY SO QUICK SHE WAS PISSED BRO
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
THAT SHIT WAS NOT COOL DAWG
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
K
— Tyler, The Creator (@tylerthecreator) November 11, 2019
a mood, really pic.twitter.com/y5lkr3Pc0d
— Sallee Ann (@salleeannruibal) November 11, 2019
UPDATE 2: Drake responds…
