The Viral Rant That Got M.I.A. Booted From Kid Cudi’s Tour
There’s some drama brewing between M.I.A. and Kid Cudi over his “Rebel Ragers” tour that just kicked off. And now, both parties—and fans online—are speaking out about it.
The chatter all stems from Cudi’s recent decision to kick the “Paper Planes” rapper off his tour as a headliner after some recent remarks during her set struck a bad chord. In now-viral clips from a show at the beginning of the month, M.I.A. took a moment to express her thoughts on cancel culture and her thoughts on people who are in the U.S. “illegally.”
“I’ve been canceled for many reasons. I never thought I would be canceled for being a brown Republican voter,” she was heard saying at one point.
She later made what seemed to be a quip about folks in the country illegally, saying: “I can’t do ‘Illygirl,’ though some of you could be in the audience.”
Once the boos started coming from the crowd, she tried to lighten the mood, adding, “I’m illegal, half of my team aren’t here because they couldn’t get their visa.” However, it didn’t do much to help.
Once Cudi got wind of it, he swiftly decided to part ways with M.I.A. for her newfound notoriety and explained the decision on social media.
In a since-expired post to his Instagram story on Monday, the “Man on the Moon” rapper detailed the reason behind his decision, explaining that before the tour started, he told M.I.A. and her team that he didn’t want anything offensive being spewed to his fans, citing the current political climate. However, after a lot of negative feedback from her aforementioned rant, he had no choice but to part ways with her.
“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,” Cudi explained per Pitchfork. “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.”
Well, as you might expect, Cudi’s words didn’t land well with M.IA., who in turn let off her reaction to her firing in a lengthy post to X/Twitter.
“I WROTE ILLYGAL ON THE MAYA LP A SONG FROM 2010. I STARTED THIS INTRO TO THE SONG WITH THE STATEMENT SAYING I’M ILLYGAL, AND I SAID MY TEAM HASN’T GOTTEN VISAS YET,” she wrote in a lengthy post in X/Twitter. “THEN PLAYED A SONG THAT HAD LYRICS SAYING “FU&% THE LAW”, WHICH I STILL BELIEVE, IF THE LAW IS UNJUST F@%& IT. DO NOT GAS LIGHT MY WORDS. THAT IS THE WORK OF SATAN.”
She continued: “I WROTE BORDERS AND ILLYGAL AND PAPER PLANES BEFORE YOU THOUGHT IMMIGRANT RIGHTS WERE COOL. I’VE HAD THESE BATTLES BY MYSELF WITHOUT THE HELP OF MILLIONS OF FANS BACKING ME . I DON’T NEED THIS VIRTUE SIGNAL ERA TO ALL OF A SUDDEN ERASE AN ENTIRE LIFE I’VE LED.”
“JESUS WAS AN IMMIGRANT AND A REBEL. I HAVE NO APPOLGY FOR THE JUDGEMENTAL THE WICKED AND THE IGNORENT, FOR THOSE ARE SPIRITS THAT WE MUST OVER COME IN OUR LIVES AND IN THIS WORLD,” she concluded.
Once fans saw the back and forth, many were quick to hop online to share their thoughts and feelings.
One user on TikTok said in part, “The thing is M.I.A. has been off her rocker for a couple years now. My thing is more to Kid Cudi: why the hell did you have her there? It don’t make sense for who you are and what you stand for and what you believe. You already knew this lady was gonna say something crazy. M.I.A. has been saying crazy, outlandish things for almost a decade now and you thought that was gonna be a good idea for your ‘all-inclusive’ show you like to put on? Make that make sense Kid Cudi.”
Others called out M.I.A.’s support for Trump, arguing that his MAGA agenda completely contradicts her stance on immigrants’ rights.
“But you’re MAGA? How can you support MAGA but be for immigrants?! Do you not see what they’re doing to immigrants?! You dweeb,” wrote another user on X/Twitter.
“She’s always been complex and contradictory. But she’s crossed over to the foolish side of the graph (when you’re more contradictory than complex). And clearly there’s some weird cult vibe in all this. Too bad. Oh well,” said one other person.
Added another on TikTok: “She’s trying to have full blown political debates and people came for music. Girl sing Paper Planes and keep it pushin.”
