MIA is suing Kid Cudi for $2.8m after she was ousted from his Rebel Ragers Tour over “offensive remarks” she made on stage.
The British rapper, born Mathangi Arulpragasam, filed a lawsuit against Kid Cudi, full name Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi, for allegedly breaching the contract that booked her as an opening act.
A statement from MIA’s team to Variety accused Cudi of attempting to “silence freedom of artistic expression and speech” during his tour.
The Independent has contacted Kid Cudi and MIA’s representatives for comment.
open image in galleryMIA’s lawyers have claimed that touring company Live Nation agreed to pay the artist $2.8m (£2.08m) “regardless of what she said on stage”.
They have also accused Cudi of “directing Live Nation to fire MIA” and portraying himself as “an aggrieved headliner forced to protect his fans” after insisting she had “understood” she could not say anything “offensive” on the tour.
“MIA was terminated to generate publicity for the Tour, which has struggled with ticket sales,” the lawsuit claimed. “She was contractually allowed to say whatever she wanted on stage. MIA now holds Kid Cudi accountable for his bad faith destruction of her contractual rights, business opportunities, and reputation.”
MIA was booted from the tour shortly after remarks she made on 2 May during a show at the Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas went viral.
In the rant, which was met with boos by audience members, MIA claimed she had been “cancelled for many reasons” but “never thought I would be cancelled for being a brown Republican voter”.
She also stated: “I can’t do [my song] ‘Illygal’, though some of you could be in the audience.”
open image in gallery
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Two days later, Cudi announced on Instagram that the “Paper Planes” star was no longer part of the 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,” he claimed. “I was assured things were understood”.
Cudi said he had been “flooded” with messages from fans who had been upset by MIA’s remarks: “This, to me, is very disappointing, and I won’t have someone on my tour making offensive remarks that upsets my fanbase.”
MIA then fired back in her own all-caps statement on Instagram, telling Cudi not to “gaslight my words” and pointing out pro-immigration themes in her music that have often drawn on her personal experience as a Sri Lankan refugee.
“I wrote ‘Borders’ and ‘Illygal’ and ‘Paper Planes’ before you thought immigrant rights were cool,” she wrote, in part. “I’ve had these battles by myself without millions of fans backing me.”
MIA endorsed US president Donald Trump ahead of the 2024 election, despite being a British citizen who is unable to vote. In recent years, she has also expressed controversial views, including criticism of vaccines during the Covid pandemic.
Cudi’s Rebel Rager Tour is ongoing and will conclude on 27 June.