Pop star M.I.A. was removed from the lineup of the music festival Field Day for giving an interview with Candace Owens.
While announcing M.I.A. was canceled from the event, the festival cited her “online comments” which “could be viewed as being quite contentious.”
“After discussing it with AEG, the consensus is that in light of the online activity, we cannot continue with the offer,” the festival told M.I.A.
“We have not taken the decision lightly, but we must consider the wide risks to the festival and its stakeholders.”
M.I.A. responded on Twitter, saying: “‘In light of her online activity’ like what accidentally launching a missile on an innocent village, or me scamming billions of dollars from people or running a sex scandal?
“No, it was your lil tweet. How Naughty.
“Festival stakeholders want musicians to be boring Puppets,” she added.
“In light of her online activity”like what accidentally launching a missile on a innocent village, or me scamming a billions of dollars from people or running a sex scandal?
No it was your lil tweet. How Naughty.
Festival stakeholders want musicians to be boring Puppets. pic.twitter.com/KWQJre7DEG
— M.I.A.Ⓜ️ (@MIAuniverse) January 11, 2023
“How dare you Field Festival?” she said in an earlier post.
“I’m literally an Artist who is been given a medal for speaking up.
“Now you are going to pull my show because of your stakeholders?
“Your stakeholders are not happy I point out hypocrisy in a tweet?
“But are happy if I support war murder sex drugs?”
@fielddaylondon How dare you?
I’m literally an Artist who is been given a 🏅 medal for speaking up. Now you are going to pull my show because of your stakeholders? Your stakeholders are not happy I point out hypocrisy in a tweet? But are happy if I support war murder sex drugs? pic.twitter.com/BN9myCDzCI— M.I.A.Ⓜ️ (@MIAuniverse) January 11, 2023
“The Uk has a brown PM,” she continued, in reference to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
“A brown person wrote that email to a brown artist because I went on black conservative show, pointing out all poor people should be unified: Make this make sense.”
The pop star told Candace Owens that her record label and other handlers were not happy when she started speaking out about human rights abuses and war crimes in her native Sri Lanka.
She said: “They wanted me to be like, ‘I came from a mud heart like me now, you know, I’m driving a Bentley, and I’m so happy I’m liberated.’
“And that was the narrative Hollywood wanted me to say.
“But money didn’t mean sh*t, you know, when 150,000 people are getting bombed, and you can’t speak about it.
“And if you have to compromise that to achieve this status, it just wasn’t worth it, you know, in a larger scale, not just talking about myself and my experience, but on a larger scale this level of censorship or gaslighting, I would say.
“It induces mental illness in people which I think is why it’s been going up in society because it’s so, it’s so difficult because on the one hand, 99 percent of the people would have shut up and taken the Bentley route, you know, and become the billionaire.
“And would have found it quite easy to make that compromise, you know, but for me, obviously, I have a very political dad and my family come from that, you know.
“So it was just not — it was just not an option not to talk about it, because it’s ingrained in the DNA of my music.”
Owens said: “So if you had simply forgotten who you were, you could have become someone else.
“So you caught a little heat when I tweeted you and said, ‘Hey, I’d love to have a conversation.’”
M.I.A. said: “Yes, I think debate and conversations, you know, are threatened species and that we have to expand the idea, you know, and the need for debate and conversations, even if people disagree or agree, you know.
“And I’m here to have a conversation with you.
“You know, there might be things we agree on and things we don’t agree on, but that doesn’t mean that I have to completely shut you out of my life, you know, or you completely deny my voice, and I think that’s what it’s about, like this should be an inspiring thing for people.”
Rapper and singer M.I.A. is in the crosshairs of the cancel mob for daring to have a discussion with Candace Owens. pic.twitter.com/4DSxO53CmJ
— basterecords (@basterecords) January 12, 2023
