Last month, Kid Cudi's Rebel Ragers Tour took a turn after his supporting act, M.I.A., was booted off the show. After playing and performing songs that the audience deemed far-right or MAGA-adjacent, the crowd not only booed M.I.A. but also forced online pushback, prompting Cudi to make a decision. He later shared a statement saying that M.I.A. was no longer a part of the tour. Then, she sued him for $2.8 million.
In court filings, reported by Variety, M.I.A. and her team allege: “Here is the truth. M.I.A. was terminated to generate publicity for the Tour, which has struggled with ticket sales... She was contractually allowed to say whatever she wanted on stage. M.I.A. now holds Kid Cudi accountable for his bad faith destruction of her contractual rights, business opportunities, and reputation.”
M.I.A. Shares How She Found Out She Was Off The Tour
In an interview with Popcast, M.I.A. said that Cudi didn't even let her know there was a problem.
"He didn't call me. He didn't talk to my crew," she said. "I go to talk to him and he didn't see me. Yeah, it was kind of like, crazy. And then my son is like, 'Hey, I heard you're not on the tour.' And I'm waking up the next morning. That's how I found out. From a different state. My son called me from school, and he's like, 'Oh, I guess you're coming home.'" She said she had no idea what he was referring to. "And he sent me the post [from Kid Cudi]."
"I think that Cudi fans didn't know my songs. I was skipping through them, but really, I was just sort of playing them ten seconds each. But, when I got to 'Illygirl,' which is my favorite song, by the way, I was like, 'Oh, I can't do that, but we can do 'Teqkilla,' and I played 'Teqkilla,' but I think people thought we can't do 'Illygirl'... but the whole song's chorus is saying I'm illegal."
M.I.A. added that she understood the backlash, but she disagreed with the perspective that she was simply some MAGA artist pushing an agenda. "That is what the media wrote as what's going on. That was the perception that was generated, and fanned, and algorithimized to cement a narrative. Because the narrative is that of a brown woman who is an immigrant. And no matter what Americans think about that, they can never remove that."
Check out the clip of M.I.A. speaking on her rift with Kid Cudi below.
