Article Lead Image

Reporter’s Tumblr gets him barred from RNC party

Journalist Kyle Kramer was assigned to cover the Republican National Convention for VICE, but he was turned away from a party because of his hip-hop heavy Tumblr blog.

 

Chase Hoffberger

Tech

Posted on Aug 28, 2012   Updated on Jun 2, 2021, 12:05 pm CDT

Behold, a list of items supposedly prohibited at all Republican National Convention after parties: Hoodies, drugs, guns (maybe), and a Tumblr site.

That last prohibition arrives according to Kyle Kramer, a Chicago-based music writer who runs a Tumblr showcasing his affinity for hip-hop music.

In Tampa to cover the Republican National Convention for VICE, Kramer reports that he was summarily barred from entering an RNC after party when an event organizer informed him that those throwing the party knew about his blog.

“I was background-checked,” Kramer wrote. “Apparently a standard procedure for after-party guests at the RNC—and they’ve seen my Tumblr, which has a lot of posts about rap and a couple of things that might suggest I have some liberal views.”

Kramer wrote that the event organizer “apologized profusely” but that something on his Tumblr page “disqualified me from entering the house.”

“‘There are going to be certain personalities at this event who have been the recipients of threats from domestic terrorists,” the organizer said. “The background checks are just a precaution.”

But from what? As Kramer attests, his Tumblr leans left, but it’s not exactly a facility for hatemongering or liberal radicalism. Most of his recent posts detail things like rapper interviews about Power Rangers, his affinity for Taylor Swift, or the new Y.N. Rich Kids jam.

“Maybe the unfortunate denial was a metaphor for the way the Republican Party is unwelcoming and dangerous to people who don’t fit its rigid worldview,” Kramer wrote.

Maybe. Maybe they’re just scared of Tumblr, too.

Photo via lucyliz0/hashgram

Share this article
*First Published: Aug 28, 2012, 12:54 pm CDT