M.I.A. has been removed from the artist roster for London's 2016 Afropunk festival in light of comments she made about the Black Lives Matter movement.
In response to Beyoncé's Superbowl Halftime show performance, M.I.A. said in an interview with ES Magazine, "It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter...It’s not a new thing to me — it’s what Lauryn Hill was saying in the 1990s, or Public Enemy in the 1980s." She went on to question both Beyoncé and Kendrick Lamar asking, "Is Beyoncé or Kendrick Lamar going to say Muslim Lives Matter? Or Syrian Lives Matter? Or this kid in Pakistan matters? That’s a more interesting question. And you cannot ask it on a song that’s on Apple, you cannot ask it on an American TV programme, you cannot create that tag on Twitter, Michelle Obama is not going to hump you back."
In a statement released on its website, Afropunk explained its decision to pull M.I.A, who was meant to headline the festival.
"A key part of the AFROPUNK ethos has always been educating one another, breaking down boundaries and sparking conversation about race, gender, religion, sex, culture and everything that makes life worth living...After discussing the situation with the artist and the community, a decision was agreed upon by all involved that M.I.A will no longer headline AFROPUNK London," the statement read.
The new headliner will be announced along with the second half of the performing artists on July 19.
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