M.I.A. Reportedly Drops Out of Afropunk’s London Show, Azealia Banks Tells Fans to ‘Leave Her Alone’

Instagram

Rapper M.I.A. has announced she is no longer performing at London’s Afropunk fest after attendees condemned the alternative Black cultural concert series for allowing her to headline. The 40-year-old star tweeted about the change June 20, saying she’s been told to “stay in my lane.”

Sorry I'm not doin Afropunk. I've been told to stay in my lane. Ha there is no lane for 65mil refugees who's lanes are blown up! #nolanes

— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 20, 2016

She hinted at dropping out from the lineup a day earlier, saying she’ll make the move because it “saves the cause and lives.”

If pulling the show saves the cause and lives then that's what I'll do.

— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) June 19, 2016

This comes nearly a week after potential concert-goers expressed their disappointment in Afropunk for allowing M.I.A. to perform after her comments in April criticized the Black Lives Matter movement.

“It’s interesting that in America the problem you’re allowed to talk about is Black Lives Matter,” she told the Evening Standard.  “It’s not a new thing to me — it’s what Lauryn Hill was saying in the 1990s or Public Enemy in the 1980s. Is Beyoncé 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. And you cannot ask it on a song that’s on Apple, you cannot ask it on an American TV program, you cannot create that tag on Twitter, Michelle Obama is not going to hump you back.”

She later clarified those comments on Twitter.

A#blacklivesmatter B#Muslimlivesmatter. I'm not Muslim . My criticism wasn't about Beyoncé. It's how u can say A not B right now in 2016.

— M.I.A (@MIAuniverse) April 21, 2016

But that did not stop fans from bringing up her original statement regarding Afropunk. Now that M.I.A. reportedly won’t perform, fans seem pleased about the announcement.

User @beezy4beezy excitedly applauded the change in GIF form.

@MIAuniverse byeeee! ????? pic.twitter.com/cBGF5mOYZU

— Yórùbà the Dinosaur (@beezy4beezy) June 19, 2016

Another user encouraged the star to drop out before Black Twitter came for her.

@MIAuniverse pull yourself out before black twitter pulls off your edges

— KFC Twix (@kfctwixsqueals) June 19, 2016

And user @Goose thought M.I.A. not headlining was a good idea.

@MIAuniverse Sounds like you are doing the right thing, good on ya!

— Goose (@nGoose1) June 19, 2016

However, equally controversial rapper Azealia Banks defended the UK rapper in a lengthy Instagram post on June 19, demanding others to “leave M.I.A. the f— alone.”

Leave M.I.A the fuck alone. You guys are idiots and have COMPLETELY missed the point of what she's trying to tell you. THIS IS A BLACK PERSON. SriLankans/Indians are BLACK. U guys keep for getting that black is not something we share as an ethnicity it's something we share as a GLOBAL STRUGGLE. Everything/Everyone that is on the opposite side of the Aryan/Christian/Zionist world supremacy agenda has been marked as BLACK. And has been marked FOR DEATH. This includes, Africans, Indians, African Americans, Arabs, Muslims, south East Asians, aboriginal people, ETC. you motherfuckers DONT GET IT. m.I.a is trying to explain this deeply complex idea to you all with examples of current events but the LIBERAL MEDIA has its dick so far down you sheeples throats that you can't even understand what she's saying. SHES TELLING YOU THAT HER PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING JUST AS OURS ARE. LEAVE MAYA THE FUCK ALONE AND LET HER DO HER PERFORMANCE. FOR FUCKS SAKE. (Ps: no one said Muslim is an ethnicity! Just like "black" isn't !)

A photo posted by Azealia Banks (@azealiabanks) on Jun 19, 2016 at 3:18pm PDT

As of this posting, M.I.A. is still listed as a performer on Afropunk’s website. The festival will be held Sept. 24 at London’s Alexandria Palace.