Kid Cudi has fired M.I.A. from his ongoing Rebel Ragers Tour after the London-born rapper ranted on stage that she was being “canceled for being a brown Republican voter.”
Kid Cudi’s tour, which also features Big Boi and A-Trak as opening acts, kicked off in Phoenix on April 28.
On the fourth night of the tour, in Dallas on May 2, M.I.A. was widely reported to have drawn boos from the crowd after she discussed her support for Donald Trump and said: “I never thought I would be canceled for being a brown Republican voter.”
She was also booed when commenting about her 2010 single “Illegal” that: “I can’t do ‘Illegal,’ though some of you could be in the audience.”
Clips of M.I.A. speaking from the stage went viral on social media, leading to Cudi announcing that he had asked her to leave the tour.
In a post on his Instagram Stories, 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 upsets my fanbase. Thank you for understanding - Rager.”
The Independent has approached M.I.A for comment.
M.I.A., whose real name is Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, is a British citizen who cannot vote in American elections. However, that did not stop her from endorsing Trump ahead of the 2024 election.
In a post on X at the time, she shared a livestream of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsing Trump and captioned it: “Trump is going to ride America through the most challenging 4 years coming pulling out weed, and Rfk will inherit America when God is ready to replant and rebuild it righteously.”
The “Paper Planes” artist has a long history of anti-establishment political views, but in recent years has become more aligned with right-wing talking points. She was vocally critical of vaccines during the Covid pandemic, and subsequently appeared on Alex Jones’s Infowars channel to promote her Ohmni clothing line, which includes hats made of tin foil.
