by Alexandra Pollard Contributor | Photos by WENN

Tags: M.I.A 

M.I.A. reluctantly drops out of Afropunk Festival: 'I've been told to stay in my lane'

The musician's place on the line-up was hugely controversial

 

M.I.A. drops out of Afropunk Festival 2016 line-up, Black Lives Matter Photo: WENN

M.I.A. has reluctantly pulled out of headlining London’s Afropunk Festival after her inclusion on the line-up was deemed inappropriate.

Though the musician, who is of Sri Lankan heritage, has campaigned for the rights of Tamil people and Syrian refugees, she recently came under fire for seemingly undermining the Black Lives Matter movement.

In an interview with The Evening Standard earlier this year, M.I.A. said, “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 continued, “Is Beyonce 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.”

As such, her prominent position on the inaugural London version of Afropunk Festival, alongside Benjamin Booker, SZA, Ho99o9 and more, was met with criticism.

After putting up quite a fight, M.I.A. eventually agreed to remove herself from the festival’s bill - though the festival itself is yet to make an official statement.

Afropunk Festival was founded in New York back in 2005, and this is its first visit across the pond.

Alexandra Pollard

Contributor

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