The rapper Kid Cudi said he was firing his fellow artist M.I.A. from his tour after she was booed onstage over the weekend in Dallas when she veered off into a political rant about illegal immigrants during her performance.
In a social media post on Monday, Kid Cudi, the tour’s headliner, said M.I.A. would no longer be taking part in his shows, saying he had been “flooded” with messages from fans upset by her comments.
At the show on Saturday in Dallas, M.I.A., 50, who was born Maya Arulpragasam and often goes by just Maya, was discussing why she could not perform her song “Illygirl,” pronounced like the word “illegal,” when she began drawing backlash from the audience.
“We can’t do ‘Illygirl’ because some of you could be in the audience,” she said, drawing boos, several videos posted by concertgoers showed.
The rapper then seemed to try to defuse to the situation.
“All right, I’m illegal,” she said. “Half of my team are not here because they didn’t get the visa, OK? I want you to know that. All right? So don’t listen to what the bots say on the internet.”
M.I.A., who was born in London and raised in Sri Lanka, has in recent years expressed support for President Trump. Some concertgoers who recorded her comments said on social media that she had also spoken onstage about being “canceled” because she supports Republicans. Those remarks could not be independently verified.
In a statement posted to his social media on Monday, Kid Cudi said his management team had insisted to M.I.A. before his tour that he did not want anything offensive at his shows.
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“After the last couple of shows, I’ve been flooded with messages from fans that were upset by her rants,” wrote the rapper, whose real name is Scott Mescudi. “This, to me, is very disappointing and I won’t have someone on my tour making offensive remarks that upsets my fanbase.”
M.I.A. stood by her remarks in a series of social media posts after being dropped from the tour.
“I’M ILLYGAL FOR SPEAKING MY MIND NOW, WHO WOULDDA THOUGHT, THAT THOUGHT WILL BECOME CENSORED,” she wrote on X. She added: “CRUCIFIED FOR WORDS.”
Representatives for M.I.A. and Kid Cudi did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Tuesday.
A Ticketmaster listing for the tour showed that a concert scheduled for Tuesday night in Birmingham, Ala., had been canceled. Kid Cudi said on social media that it had been canceled because ticket sales for the performance had not been strong enough.
During the 2024 presidential election, M.I.A. gained attention for her support for Mr. Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the political scion who forged an alliance with Mr. Trump after suspending his own presidential campaign.
“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,” she wrote on X at the time.
Her comments drew renewed attention online after Saturday’s concert, prompting her to engage with some people who criticized her on social media.
“DON’T BE AN AGENT OF DIVISION, I CAN’T VOTE IN THE US, AND 48% OF LATIN COMMUNITY VOTED TRUMP,” she wrote in response to one person who mentioned her support for Mr. Trump. “SO ARE YOU GOING TO HATE THEM ALL?”
Neil Vigdor covers breaking news for The Times, with a focus on politics.
The post Kid Cudi Fires M.I.A. From Tour After Onstage Comments About Immigrants appeared first on New York Times.
