Kid Cudi’s North American tour was featuring MIA as the opening act at some concerts, but this will no longer be the case. The rapper has announced his decision to fire MIA from the tour, alleging “offensive comments” made by the British artist towards her fans.
“After the last concerts, I have received an avalanche of messages from fans upset by his speeches,” Cudi wrote in an Instagram story. “This, for me, is very disappointing and I am not going to have someone on my tour making offensive comments that upset my fan base.”
Among those comments expressed by MIA during her concert on Saturday in Dallas, Texas, the artist introduces her song ‘ILLYGAL’ by joking about the legal situation of the attendees: “I can’t do ‘Illygal’, although some of you in the audience may be.” After this phrase, which provoked immediate boos, the artist clarified that the majority of her team had not been able to attend the concert because they had not obtained their visas in time.
MIA has responded to Kid Cudi’s decision by writing in capital letters that it is “the work of Satan”, and has recalled that the topic of immigration has been part of his artistic creation from the beginning of his career: «I wrote ‘Borders, ‘ILLYGAL’ and ‘Paper Planes’ before you thought that immigrant rights were something “cool”. I have had these battles alone, without the help of millions of fans supporting me. I don’t need this era of posturing activism to suddenly erase an entire life I’ve lived. “Jesus was an immigrant and a rebel.”
In another message posted on
MIA suggests that Cudi’s decision amounts to an act of censorship and predicts that “artists are dead” and that “entertainers will be replaced by robots.”
