M.I.A. has fired back at Kid Cudi after being removed from his Rebel Ragers tour, filing a lawsuit that claims she was fired in order to boost struggling ticket sales.
The singer, who was taken off the tour earlier this month after only four shows, filed suit against Cudi in California federal court on Friday (May 29). Her complaint claims that the terms of her appearance, which was supposed to pay her just over $2.8 million for 33 shows, allowed her "sole and exclusive creative control," so she was allowed to say whatever she liked.
But she claims that following a series of statements over four shows, including condemnations of ICE, calls for a free Palestine, and questioning why she had been "cancelled" as a "Republican voting American," Cudi told Live Nation to remove her from the tour.
Cudi's only public statement on the matter involved him saying that he "didn’t want anything offensive at [his] shows," and that M.I.A. was "making offensive remarks that upsets [his] fanbase."
M.I.A.'s suit, however, calls that statement "riddled with falsehoods" and claims that Cudi’s public reasons were just a pretext. Instead, she alleges that she "was terminated to generate publicity for the tour, which has struggled with ticket sales… [Kid Cudi] has ridiculed and attempted to 'cancel' M.I.A. to market the tour and sell tickets."
The suit lists several statements from what would turn out to be her final show on the tour:
- "I’ve been cancelled for many things. I never thought I’d be cancelled for being a Republican voting American. So, I’ve come to meet you all in person. This is the 'allow me to reintroduce myself' tour."
- "We can do one more song . . . Can’t do 'Illygirl,' though some of you could be in the audience."
- "Alright, I am illegal. Half of my team are not here because they didn’t get the visa, okay? I want you to know that. Alright, so don’t listen to what the bots say on the internet, okay. . . . We should be above politics."
M.I.A. also claimed that in the aftermath of being booted off the tour, she has lost multiple opportunities, including a $290,000 offer to play at a private party; a merchandise pop-up in Los Angeles; and a potential sync licensing deal. In addition, she alleged that she and her son have received death threats.
Complex has reached out to M.I.A.'s attorney for additional comment, but he did not immediately respond. No information about representation for Kid Cudi was available.
