Six years after her appearance at the 2012 Super Bowl with Madonna and Nicki Minaj, M.I.A. is speaking about her legal battle with NFL.
In a new interview, the rapper exposed Roc Nation and owner/her former manager Jay-Z whom she said encouraged her to sign a ludicrous deal that will force her to give up her earnings for the rest of her life.
All because she flipped her middle finger during the live broadcast of the sports event.
M.I.A. vs NFL
To recall, during the now-infamous halftime show headlined by the Queen of Pop, M.I.A. and Minaj appeared onstage as the supporting acts. They danced and rapped to "Give Me All Your Luvin'," a track from Madonna's 2012 album MDNA.
During her segment of the song, M.I.A. flipped the camera for a split second. This led to a massive legal battle between the rapper and the NFL.
A month after her performance, the "Paper Planes" rapper was slapped with a $1.5 million arbitration claim accusing her of breaching their contract and tarnishing the organization's "goodwill and reputation." In 2014, the NFL added another $15 million to the claim.
"It [the hatred] was from everybody and it just felt ridiculous. When they hit me with the lawsuit it activated so many people to come after me on so many different levels," the 42-year-old told Huck Magazine. "If you're talking about racism and sexism, that moment in my life showed the cracks in everyone I knew."
She revealed that Jay-Z, who was managing her at the time, told her to take the lawsuit, which she said would take 100 percent of her earnings for the rest of her life. She said she refused and did not give any further details.
"A middle finger, it's like get a fucking grip," she added. "People were like, 'oh you're lucky you're not in jail, give up all your profit, be this slave for the rest of your life.'"
M.I.A. and the NFL eventually agreed to settle the claim. Both the NFL and NBC, the network that broadcasts the half-time show, issued an apology to the public for the incident, but the British rapper did not.
She did apologize to Madonna, according to the representatives of the Queen of Pop.
NFL And Janet Jackson
The NFL has been quite strict about keeping the Super Bowl family-friendly. That is why when Janet Jackson had a major wardrobe malfunction that exposed her boob to the millions of viewers across the United States, it became a big issue.
Jackson has to issue a public apology, claiming responsibility for the whole ordeal. She was banned from performing at the Grammys the week after the Super Bowl. Justin Timberlake, who pulled at her costume and exposed her during the halftime show, was permitted to attend the awards ceremony and take the stage as scheduled.
Billboard reported that Jackson's music was also blacklisted from all of Clear Channel Communications properties, which include Infinity Broadcasting and Viacom, making her album Damita Jo her worst-performing work since 1984.
The singer was also forced to withdraw from a movie deal following the backlash.
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