M.I.A. has been removed from her opening slot on Kid Cudi’s Rebel Ragers tour after being booed onstage in Dallas on Saturday (May 2) for her statements about immigrants.
The artist, who is of British and Sri Lankan descent, at one point complained about being “canceled for being a brown Republican voter” and then said she couldn’t perform her song “Illegal” because “some of you could be in the audience.” A torrent of boos followed, to which M.I.A. responded, “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, OK?”
Today, Cudi took to Instagram Stories to confirm that M.I.A. would not continue on the tour, which also features support from OutKast’s Big Boi and A-Trak and is scheduled to continue through June 27 in Chula Vista, Ca.
“M.I.A 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. Thank you for understanding.”
The 50-year old artist born Mathangi Arulpragasam has courted controversy in recent years with her implicit support of disgraced broadcaster Alex Jones and by creating a line of clothing that claims to “block” wireless broadband signals. Those products include such names as “Tin Foil Hat,” “Anti Facial Recognition Balaclava” and “Brain Protection Durag.”