Music

M.I.A. said that Kid Cudi lost her millions when he fired her. She's now seeking that money in a lawsuit.

M.I.A. was once an opener for Kid Cudi on his ongoing Rebel Rangers Tour. After a rant about politics to one audience, however, he fired her from the tour. M.I.A. is now seeking millions of dollars from him in a lawsuit.

Kid Cudi fired M.I.A. from his tour following an onstage rant

During Cudi’s May 2 show in Dallas, M.I.A. spoke about politics with the crowd. In 2024, she endorsed Donald Trump for president. While she is not an American citizen, she described herself as a Republican voter.

“I’ve been canceled for many reasons,” she said, per Consequence of Sound. “I never thought I would be canceled for being a brown Republican voter.”

She also said that she couldn’t play her song “Illygirl,” leading her to speculate that some members of the audience were illegal immigrants. The crowd began to boo her.

Not long after this, Cudi announced that M.I.A. would no longer be a part of his tour.

“TOUR UPDATE: M.I.A is no longer on this tour,” he wrote. “I told my management to send a notice to her team before we started tour that I didn’t want anything offensive at my shows, cuz I already knew what time it was, and I was assured things were understood.”

He said that fans had been complaining about her presence on the tour for a long time.

“After the last couple shows, I’ve been flooded with messages from fans that were upset by her rants. This, to me, is very disappointing, and I wont have someone on my tour making offensive remarks that upsets my fanbase. Thank you for understanding. Rager.”

M.I.A. is seeking damages from Kid Cudi

Several weeks after Cudi fired her from the tour, M.I.A. filed a lawsuit against him. She claims that he only fired her to generate publicity for the tour, causing her to miss out on $2.8 million in guaranteed wages.

“M.I.A. was terminated to generate publicity for the Tour, which has struggled with ticket sales,” the complaint alleges. “She was contractually allowed to say whatever she wanted on stage. M.I.A. now holds Kid Cudi accountable for his bad faith destruction of her contractual rights, business opportunities, and reputation.”

It claims that the tour has struggled with low ticket sales, so this is an attempt to boost attendance.

“Kid Cudi’s motivations are purely commercial,” the complaint said. “He has already been forced to cancel a Tour date due to low ticket sales. He has ridiculed and attempted to ‘cancel’ M.I.A. to market the Tour and sell tickets.”

She is asking the court to force Cudi to pay her $2.8 million plus punitive damages and legal fees.