M.I.A has spoken out about being cut from Kid Cudi‘s tour.
Cudi, real name Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi, announced last month that he had dropped the British singer and rapper from his ongoing ‘Rebel Ragers’ Tour, saying that he was “flooded with messages from fans” who had complained about statements she’d made while opening for him during the first two shows of his tour.
M.I.A then filed a lawsuit against Cudi, suing him for for $2.8million and claiming that he knew her reputation and political stance before inviting her on the tour. She also alleged that she was told that she could say whatever she wanted on stage.
Now, M.I.A has shared more details of her side of the story on The New York Times’ Popcast, in her first interview since being removed from the tour.
The singer has claimed she has never spoken to Cudi about the decision, despite making attempts to communicate with him. She said she actually found out she had been dropped from the tour through her son, who saw Cudi’s statement online.
“He didn’t even speak to me about it,” she began. “He didn’t call my management, he didn’t call me, he didn’t talk to the crew and I even made an effort to go and talk to him and he didn’t see me. Yeah, it was kind of crazy. My son is like, ‘Hey, I heard you’re not on the tour.’”
M.I.A. continued: “That’s how I found out, from a different state and my son called me from school. I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ And then he sent me the post.”
The musician then went on to blame the media for running with an allegedly false narrative that she’s a Trump supporter and Republican voter.
“That’s not what’s going on. That is what the media wrote as what’s going on. That was the perception that was generated and fanned and algorithmized to cement a narrative,” she stated. “The narrative is that is a Brown woman who is an immigrant and no matter what Americans think about that, they could never remove that.”
According to reports from the time, she was booed by the crowd in Dallas after saying she had been “cancelled for many reasons”, adding: “I never thought I would be cancelled for being a brown Republican voter”. Consequence also reports that she made some comments that were interpreted by some as being about immigrants, but the singer said it was a reference to her song “ILLYGIRL.”
From there, Cudi shared a statement claiming that he agreed with M.I.A ahead of the shows that there would not be anything offensive said at the shows, and claimed that it was “very disappointing” to have to drop her from the tour.
“I won’t have someone on my tour making offensive remarks that upsets my fanbase,” he said.
Soon afterwards, M.I.A took to X to respond to the decision, seemingly walking back on her comments about voting by saying that she hasn’t voted as “my team hasn’t gotten visas yet”.
M.I.A. has received backlash for a number of controversial statements in recent years. These include comparing InfoWars host Alex Jones’s falsehoods about the Sandy Hook shooting to celebrities “pushing” COVID-19 vaccines. She later clarified her stance on COVID vaccines, saying she’s “not really” an anti-vaxxer.
Ahead of the 2024 election, M.I.A. threw her weight behind Trump’s campaign, saying he would “ride America through the most challenging four years”, adding that “RFK will inherit America when God is ready to replant and rebuild it righteously”.
She released her new album ‘M.I.7’ earlier this year, and announced alongside it a new clothing range that blocks 10G – the latest in her own Ohmni clothing brand.