Kid Cudi has removed M.I.A. as a support act from his Rebel Ragers Tour after she allegedly repeatedly went on bizarre rants during her performances.
In a post shared to his Instagram Stories, Cudi announced that M.I.A. would not be joining him on the remaining dates of the tour.
“M.I.A. is no longer on this tour,” he wrote. “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.”
Despite informing her team that he didn’t want anything “offensive” at his shows, she apparently persisted.
“After the last couple shows, I’ve been flooded with messages from fans that were upset by her rants,” he continued. “This, to me, is very disappointing and I won’t have someone on my tour making offensive remarks that upsets my fanbase. Thank you for understanding.”
M.I.A. had previously been interacting with fans and expressing excitement for various shows of the tour. Several fleeting videos taken during her recent performances were presented on social media as showing her referring to fans in the audience as “illegal,” but M.I.A. has since disputed this.
“I wrote [‘Illygirl’] on the Maya LP, a song from 2010,” she wrote in an X post after Cudi’s announcement. “I started this intro to the song with the statement saying I’m illygal, and I said my team hasn't gotten visas yet, then played a song that had lyrics saying ‘[fuck] the law,’ which I still believe, if the law is unjust [fuck] it. Do not gaslight my words. That is the work of satan.”
She went on to say that she wrote that song before others “thought immigrant rights were cool,” arguing that “this virtue signal era” is attempting to “erase” her life.
“Jesus was an immigrant and a rebel,” she added. “I have no apology for the judgmental, the wicked, and the ignorant, for those are spirits that we must overcome in our lives and in this world. Jesus returns to lead the world justly because there is injustice in this world. I’m proud of those who fight for it every day. God bless you.”
Multiple tweets after the Dallas stop on the tour indicated that M.I.A. went on political rants during her set, with one user claiming that she told the audience she’s a Republican and was booed. Those particular remarks did not appear to have been captured in footage shared to social media, however, and were instead reported by fans in attendance.
The tour only kicked off last month, with M.I.A. making it just four shows through until she was kicked off the lineup. Cudi was scheduled to bring the tour to Birmingham, Alabama, on Tuesday (May 5), but the date has since been cancelled. In another update on his Instagram Stories, Cudi addressed the cancellation.
“I wanted to give y’all a special experience, but the ticket sales just weren’t strong enough,” he wrote. “I hope y’all understand. So far tour has been fantastic, u guys showed up and showed out and the rest of tour will go on as scheduled!!”
M.I.A. has a history of making statements that have left her fans scratching their heads. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, M.I.A. indicated that she would “choose death” over a vaccine against the coronavirus. In 2024, she also launched her streetwear brand, Ohmi, with a tin-foil hat that she purported was capable of blocking Wi-Fi, 4G, and 5G signals from entering the body.
