First M.I.A. was announced to headline Afropunk London. Then she withdrew from Afropunk London. Then the organisers said she was definitely still playing Afropunk London.
Now – she’s definitely not playing Afropunk London, as organisers have officially dropped the Londonder from the Ally Pally show after previous controversy stemming from comments made about the Black Lives Matter campaign and a huge backlash.
A statement reads: “A key part of the Afropunk ethos has always been educating one another, breaking down boundaries and sparking conversation about race, gender, religion, sex, culture and everything that makes life worth living.
We are excited and honoured 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.”
A message about AFROPUNK LONDON: pic.twitter.com/Zd5z2ToWuF
— AFROPUNK (@afropunk) July 15, 2016
The festival will be announcing a new headliner and more tomorrow (July 19th) ahead of the event itself on September 24th.
Don’t feel too bad for M.I.A. though, she’s got a huge new record ‘AIM’ out on September 9th, with the singer stating that it’ll be her final record. New single ‘Get Off’ has an explosive new video, which thanks to the power of the internet, you can check out below.