It's a general rule of thumb that artists and musicians shouldn't go down the political route during their performances, with M.I.A finding that out the hard way recently.
Although the fans at concerts enjoy a bit of repartee with whoever it is they are seeing, it can sometimes backfire, with Jack Black forced to cancel a Tenacious D tour last year after bandmate Kyle Gass made a shocking Donald Trump assassination joke.
And it was the president who was the source of the joke once again on Saturday 2 May, when British singer and rapper M.I.A joined Kid Cudi on stage in Dallas as part of his ongoing tour.
The 50-year-old, whose real name is Mathangi Arulpragasam, has long been a source of controversy and she joked about her song 'Illegal' suggesting that she couldn't perform it since 'some of you could be in the audience', while she also spoke about her political stance.
Advert
“I’ve been cancelled for many reasons. I never thought I would be cancelled for being a brown Republican voter,” she said - as reported by Variety.
Her comments were booed by many at the Dos Equis Pavilion, and they certainly backfired, as Kid Cudi quickly took to Instagram to confirm that the Paper Planes performer wouldn't be joining for any more shows.
“MIA is no longer on this tour,” he wrote. “I told my management to send a notice to her team before we started tour that I didn’t want anything offensive at my shows, cuz I already knew what time it was, and I was assured things were understood.
“After the last couple shows, I’ve been flooded with messages from fans that were upset by her rants. This, to me, is very disappointing and I wont have someone on my tour making offensive remarks that upsets my fanbase.”
A TikTok post from the 2 May tour date shows MIA saying: “We can’t perform [my song] Illegal, though some of you could be in the audience.”
After her comments didn't get the reaction she had expected, she added: “All right, I’m illegal. Half of my team are not here because they didn’t get the visa, OK? I want you to know that. All right? So don’t listen to what the bots say on the internet.”
M.I.A has long been a source of controversy, with her remarks about the Coronavirus pandemic attracting a lot of backlash after she claimed it was brought on by the expansion of the 5G network.
She also cemented her status as an anti-vaxxer with a 2020 tweet which read: “If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I’m gonna choose death.”
In fact, the London-born artist has even launched her own clothing brand Ohmni, which is said to protect people from the 'dangers' of 5G, wi-fi and bluetooth.
She recently attracted attention at Coachella after appearing to wear one of her own anti-surveillance pieces, covering her whole body during a performance with Major Lazer.
LADbible has contacted the representatives of M.I.A for comment.
Topics: Music
James Moorhouse