M.I.A. Lashes Out at MTV VMAs for Not Including Her "Borders" Music Video in Nominations

M.I.A. is lashing out at the MTV VMAs for not including her “Borders” music video in the nominations. Her activism for Syrian refugees in the light of the Black Lives Matter movement has been controversial to say the least, and some comments on the matter lost her the headlining spot at Afropunk London Festival.

In a series of tweets M.I.A. accused the VMAs of “racism, sexism, classism” and “elitism.” The music video directly addresses the refugee crisis in Syria, and went without receiving a singular nomination. Her upcoming album, A.I.M., is slated to be released on Sept. 9.

In a statement released to Billboard when she was dropped as headliner from Afropunk London, festival organizers said, “We are excited and honored to do our first AFROPUNK Festival in London and want to do it right. 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.”

It had originally appeared that M.I.A. was set to remove herself from the bill because of the ensuing backlash, but it now appears that everyone involved agreed that it was for the best. Reportedly some festival goers even threatened to boycott the event if she performed.

Her controversial comments were dropped in an interview with Evening Standard, where she said, “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.”

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