Why Was Tyler, The Creator Arrested At SXSW? The Tyler Mugshot Explained

Back in 2014, American rapper Tyler the Creator (real name Tyler Gregory Okonma) was arrested at an airport in Austin, Texas, charged with inciting a riot at his concert at the SXSW festival. Tyler allegedly encouraged the fans outside to enter the venue, even tho it had reached full capacity, shouting at one point, "All of you outside the gates, push."

Almost a decade after his arrest, Tyler's mugshot stills maintains significant popularity in the hip-hop community and is often used in ironic memes as an exploitable. Here's the full story of why the rapper wound up with a mugshot on that day.

Why was Tyler, the Creator arrested at SXSW in 2014?

Inciting a riot is a Class B misdemeanor, but under Texas statute, it has the "possibility of jail time up to 180 days and/or a fine not to exceed $2,000," according to Doug Murphy Law Firm. That said, on March 14th, 2014, TMZ reported the American rapper Tyler the Creator was booked for inciting a riot. The police statement says he "encouraged behavior causing an immediate danger and injury to persons” and the incident occurred during the afternoon at the SXSW festival set at Scoot Inn.

The venue was at its full capacity, with 999 people crammed into the space, yet Tyler allegedly incited a large crowd outside the venue to force themselves in past security. YouTube news channel KXAN posted a video showing some of the audience breaking in the event (shown below), which amassed over 96,000 views and 820 likes in nine years.

On the same day he was arrested, a mugshot of the rapper was released by the police department (shown below). The rapper has subsequently been released on a $25,000 bond with the official charge being Riot-Class A Misdemeanor.

How Did Tyler, the Creator Mugshot Become A Meme?

Almost immediately after the image was released online, Redditor BryanBeast13 posted the mugshot to /r/photoshopbattles subreddit, with multiple users responding with edits of the photograph, including a noseless edit by Redditor Friesheid (examples shown below). The thread gained over 1,900 upvotes in six months.

In the following years, the mugshot became a popular Photoshop meme, especially among his fans, who used their creative interpretations to edit thousands of variations of the image. The rapper commented about the events of the SXSW festival for the HuffPost Live YouTube channel. The interview (shown below) received over 221,000 views and 4,800 likes in nine years.

For the full history of Tyler, the Creator's mugshot, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.