Julian Assange makes surprise appearance at M.I.A.'s New York show

M.I.A., known for being controversial, had a surprise guest open her kick off show for the Matangi at New York's Terminal 5 last night.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange spoke to the crowd from the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where he is living in exile for a 10-minute chat over Skype, according to Consequence of Sound. He spoke about press freedom, privacy and the interconnected Internet community following the NSA spying scandal.

"It's a great pleasure to speak to MIA and our fans," he told them. "I have become a fan of MIA because I think she is the most courageous woman working in western music, without exception. ...American journalists that are actually trying to do something really pretty significant — namely, stop the United States and other countries along with it turning into a military dictatorship slowly, inevitable, inexorably — they're in exile now. They've been pushed off to the four corners of the earth."

According to Rolling Stone, M.I.A has worked with Assange before, creating music for his television show, The World Tomorrow, in which he conducted interviews during his time under house arrest in London. She also named her 2011 mixtape Vicki Leekx in an homage to his work at WikiLeaks.

Watch the full address here, and let us know what you think in the comments section below!

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