Queer icons are leading the way on the Coachella 2024 lineup. (Joseph Okpako/Amy Sussman/Getty)
The 2024 Coachella lineup has just been announced, and it’s set to be a celebration of queer music and performance.
The full lineup for the Indio, California festival was revealed on 16 January 2024, and one thing is for sure: LGBTQ+ artists are the moment.
Queer icon Lana Del Rey kicks off the headliners on the Friday slots, while Tyler the Creator and Doja Cat are both headlining on the Saturday and Sunday slots, respectively.
Elsewhere in the bill, singers Tinashe and Reneé Rapp, and rapper Ice Spice are also taking to the stage across two weekends on 12-14 and 19-21 April. Singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha is also set to perform.
Despite the incredible lineup at the pop-culture moment being a win for LGBTQ+ visibility and representation, it is worth noting that Tyler’s previous homophobic comments have previously gotten him under fire.
The rapper used homophobic slurs in his early music, including ‘f*ggot’ and ‘gay’ as an insult to someone’s intelligence. He defended himself in a NME interview at the time, telling the magazine: “I’m not homophobic. I just think ‘f*ggot’ hits and hurts people. It hits.
“And ‘gay’ just means you’re stupid. I don’t know, we don’t think about it, we’re just kids. We don’t think about that sh*t. But I don’t hate gay people. I don’t want anyone to think I’m homophobic.”
He was then banned from entering the UK in 2015 by then-home secretary Theresa May, who said that his lyrics “encouraged violence and intolerance of homosexuality”.
He insisted again that he wasn’t homophobic, telling The Guardian: “The thing that irks me about it is that the paper saying I am denied entry to the UK clearly states that these songs were written from [the perspective of] an alter ego – which means they obviously did some research on these songs that they’re detaining me for.
“So the argument is right there! This song is written from an alter ego – I’m not like this!”
Then in 2021, the star appeared to apologise for hiding his sexuality in the past. In his single Sorry Not Sorry from his release Call Me If You Get Lost, the rapper says: “Sorry to the guys I had to hide/ Sorry to the girls I had to lie to, who ain’t need to know if I was by the lake switchin’ tides, too.”
The presale for Coachella begins on 19 January at 7pm GMT.
