The singer’s management says she is still scheduled to perform.
M.I.A. was recently announced as a headliner for the UK’s first Afropunk Festival, a decision that drew criticism due to her dismissive comments about the Black Lives Matter movement earlier this year. Now she has responded to the backlash and alluded to dropping out of the festival in a series 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!” she wrote, adding that if “pulling the show saves the cause and lives then that’s what I’ll do”.
Representatives for M.I.A. tell Pitchfork her appearance is still on.
M.I.A. originally drew criticism from Black Lives Matter supporters for saying it was simply “the problem you’re allowed to talk about [in America]” and suggesting artists who showed support were being hypocritical.
“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,” she told ES Magazine in April.
M.I.A.’s currently untitled album is due this year while Afropunk Festival is scheduled for September 24. Read her tweets on the issue below.
Accusing me of racism is no better then being accused of terrorism – yet the number of people killed by Americans stamped wars continue ..
— 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
If pulling the show saves the cause and lives then that's what I'll do.
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 19, 2016
65million people displaced by 2015 – #WorldRefugeeDay
— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 20, 2016
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
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
