Kid Cudi has kicked rapper M.I.A. from his Rebel Ragers Tour after the British-Sri Lankan artist was heavily booed during a performance in Dallas over the weekend for going on a political rant that included admitting she had “been canceled for being a brown Republican voter.”
The incident occurred at the Dos Equis Pavilion, where M.I.A., whose real name is Mathangi Arulpragasam, was opening for Kid Cudi.
According to videos from the show, M.I.A. told the crowd, “I’ve been canceled for many reasons. I never thought I would be canceled for being a brown Republican voter.”
She then teased her song “Illegal,” saying, “Can’t do ‘Illegal’ ’cause some of you could be in the audience.”
When the crowd began booing, M.I.A. added, “All right, I’m illegal. Half of my team are 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, OK?”
Two days later, on Monday, Kid Cudi announced on Instagram that M.I.A. was off the tour.
In his statement to his 3.3 million followers, Cudi wrote:
TOUR UPDATE
M.I.A. is no longer on this tour. 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. 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 upset my fanbase. Thank you for understanding.”
M.I.A. has long been known for her outspoken political views, including fierce defenses of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
Hellbound and Down 