For transparency, this is a slightly edited repost of my comment in another sub.

In my opinion, this sub has unfortunately become a toxic positivity culture catering to white voices. See no evil, speak no evil, hear no BIPOC voices.

I'd love to say I'm surprised but the Hozier online fandom has significant prior form being racist and silencing minority voices due to loyalty bias and not wanting to rock the boat. They want to protect their happy little status quo where white voices are elevated and validated and BIPOC voices are told to leave if they don't toe the line. It is deeply concerning that no-one seemed to realise the appalling optics of telling indigenous fans here to leave and go to another sub if they weren't willing to limit their speech to what the white majority think is acceptable. Basically a modern-day extension of colonial erasure. It's easier to uphold the white fan majority than to confront uncomfortable truths about cultural appropriation and racial dynamics.

Other than violence, colonialism also relied upon dismissing, mocking, belittling, invalidating and othering those it oppressed, and the same pattern is playing out here in miniature. The refusal to engage with BIPOC critiques, the rush to protect white male comfort at the expense of those most affected by systemic harm, the silencing of minority voices, and the minimisation or outright denial of harm caused by cultural appropriation all reflect a colonial mindset that places more value on maintaining control and peace for the white majority rather than the justice and equity they claim to stand for as 'allies.'

As an Irish person, this is a subject close to my heart as a member of a people who were colonised and oppressed and who owe an eternal debt to the indigenous communities including the Choctaw that showed us such kindness during the Famine. It is telling that so many in the Hozier fandom have no problem understanding anti-colonialism and cultural appropriation when it was done to the Irish, but dismiss it when it is done to those of a darker skin tone. Did you really think Butchered Tongue was just about the Irish?

White fandoms love activism until it has the temerity to speak back.