M.I.A issues statement on NFL $1.5 million lawsuit

Having revealed last week that she’s been fined $1.5 million by the NFL for an “obscene” gesture made at last year’s Super Bowl, M.I.A has now come out in response to the whole fiasco.

Posting a video to Youtube, the experimental popstar has called the lawsuit “completely ridiculous”, expressing the feelings of being a “scapegoat”.

M.I.A flipped the bird (see above) during her halftime show performance of ‘Give Me All Your Luvin”, alongside Madonna and Nicki Minaj, watched by around 112 million viewers. This has led to the NFL suing for supposedly losing advertising money and sponsors.

The musician also accuses the NFL of sexually exploiting the allegedly underage teenagers seen as cheerleaders during the performance.

Read the full statement beneath:

“The NFL thing is completely ridiculous. It’s been making me laugh for a while, but now it’s so boring I don’t even laugh anymore. So the precise moment in question, and you can actually freeze-frame this as many media outlets have. The frame you’re looking for has my middle finger in the foreground, and the larger picture where it zooms out is a row of 10-15 cheerleaders, young black females, that Madonna got from a local high school in Indianapolis, and they were all under 16. If you look at them, they’re all wearing cheerleader outfits, hips thrusted in the air, legs wide open, in this very sexually provocative position.

So, now, they’re scapegoating me into figuring out the goalposts on what is offensive in America. Like, is my finger offensive, or is the underage black girl with her legs wide open more offensive to the family audience? That’s basically what it comes down to. It’s a massive waste of time, a massive waste of money, it’s a massive display of powerful corporation dick-shaking. They want me on my knees and say sorry so they can slap me on my wrist. Basically, so they can say it’s OK for me to promote being sexually exploited as a female than to display female empowerment through being punk rock. That is what it boils down to, and I’m being sued for it.”

Watch the video response below:

[via Pitchfork]