M.I.A.
M.I.A. Candace Owens/YouTube

British rapper M.I.A. has responded to Kid Cudi after he announced he was removing her as his opening act. The dispute began after M.I.A. made remarks about immigration at one of his concerts and was booed by the audience.

Despite earlier warnings from Kid Cudi not to address controversial topics during her set, M.I.A. continued with her statements. She has since accused him of gaslighting her words as she defended herself against the backlash.

How the Issue Started

M.I.A. was performing as Kid Cudi's opening act this past weekend when she began talking about her experiences as a 'brown Republican voter.' She recounted instances when she had been cancelled for various reasons but said she did not expect her political identity to be among them.

The singer also referenced her song 'Illygirl', often referred to as 'Illegal.' M.I.A. said she was not allowed to perform the song before suggesting that some people in the crowd could be undocumented. M.I.A. was booed by concertgoers, and she addressed the audience, saying that half of her team had been unable to attend due to visa issues.

'All right, I'm illegal. Half of my team is 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,' she said.

Kid Cudi Explains Decision to Axe M.I.A.

Following her remarks, Kid Cudi released a statement on his Instagram Story confirming that M.I.A. would no longer perform as his opening act, Yahoo!reported. He said he had already told M.I.A. and her team that he did not want anything controversial said during his concert, but they did not take his warning seriously.

'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,' he wrote, according to Yahoo.

M.I.A Fires Back

M.I.A. responded on social media, accusing Kid Cudi and her critics of misrepresenting her words. 'Do not gaslight my words. That is the work of satan. 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,' she said.

In her post, M.I.A. also urged her fans to listen to her new album, 'M.I.7', a Christian faith-inspired record.

On X, fans of Kid Cudi showed their support. Some said the shows would likely still be successful without M.I.A. Others took the opportunity to criticise her.

'M.I.A.'s been weird for a min! I'm surprised she's still booking stuff tbh. At least Kid Cudi kicked her off,' one person wrote.

Kid Cudi's shows will continue until 8 June across the US and Canada.

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