No stranger to strife, M.I.A. has yet another controversy to tackle. As Pitchfork notes, Buzzfeed documented a very real “backlash” towards M.I.A.’s booking as a headlining act for the Afropunk festival. The negative reactions came as a result of M.I.A.’s comments regarding the Black Lives Matter movement, which read:
“It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter. It’s not a new thing to me — it’s what Lauryn Hill was saying in the 1990s, or Public Enemy in the 1980s. Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters? That’s a more interesting question.”
And, despite clarifying the aforementioned statement, it looks like the entire mess has boiled over. While a representative for M.I.A. confirmed her presence at Afropunk to Pitchfork, M.I.A. had the following to say in a storm of tweets:
Sorry I’m not doin Afropunk. I’ve been told to stay in my lane. Ha there is no lane for 65mil refugees who’s lanes are blown up! #nolanes
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 20, 2016
65million people displaced by 2015 – #WorldRefugeeDay
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 20, 2016
20 years from now the kids of 65million will be listening to all types of music not their own because they will grow up elsewhere #nolanes
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 20, 2016
If pulling the show saves the cause and lives then that’s what I’ll do.
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 19, 2016
It’s not the first time my words have been twisted – when u see drones we don’t think what’s the colour of the person flying it? We c USA
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 19, 2016