M.I.A Blasts MTV Music Awards For Snubbing Her
Rapper M.I.A has called out MTV for failing to give the artist any recognition for her “Borders” video when announcing the Video Music Awards nominations. The artist claimed the network is guilty of “racism,” “sexism,” “classism,” and “elitism” via her Twitter account on Thursday morning.
#So. RT @Independent: M.I.A. attacks VMAs over exclusion of her video for ‘Borders’ https://t.co/h5HBEjlYj2 pic.twitter.com/uXhf5rcnQl
— A$AP Purse Snacks (@steenfox) July 29, 2016
As Time shares, M.I.A. expanded on her point and noted that her voice has been excluded.
“Borders came representing people outside U.S. showing [the world]. This is a perfect example of ‘allowed’ voice [versus] excluded voices,” she added.
After winning awards for Best Direction, Cinematography, and Video of the Year in 2012 for her video “Bad Girls,” the rapper failed to receive a nod when the nominees were announced on Tuesday.
The Grammy-nominated artist had plenty to say during her Twitter rant.
“Even if U direct it. … not here 4 EGO or Accolades but know before you tell other???? artists they have the same platform as major US artists coz they don’t #f–ktheVMAs we don’t need their recognition!!”
The publication shared the list of nominees and announced the day that those who were selected will receive their awards should they win.
“The MTV Video Music Awards announced its 2016 nominees via FacebookLive Tuesday, with Beyoncé leading the list with 11 nods for her visual album ‘Lemonade.’ Adele, Drake, Ariana Grande and Kanye West each picked up multiple nominations. The ceremony airs live on Aug. 28 at 9 p.m. ET from Madison Square Garden, the ceremony’s first-ever appearance at the famed New York venue.”
As the publication notes, the video for “Borders” was meant to be an illustration of the refugee crisis that is now a worldwide issue. M.I.A., being a refugee herself, told Time about a photo that was published in the magazine depicting a large number of refugees all in one boat. The image inspired her to create the “Borders” video.
Time has named M.I.A.’s video as the top pop music video of the year. The publication gives credit to the artist and her attempt to shine a light on the terrible circumstance faced by millions of refugees at present.
The musician spoke about her art with Time and discussed the criticism she’s received for it.
“I’ve taken a lot of criticism and made a lot of sacrifices because I keep talking about this. I could never talk about this again and be more successful, more accessible and more famous and more rich. But I’ve never done that because that aspect is important for me.”
As Us Weekly reports, this is not the first time the MTV Video Music Awards has gotten heat for snubbing artists. Nicki Minaj was not shy about voicing her annoyance at the awards show’s nominations in recent history when she was not nominated for her video last year.
“Nicki Minaj similarly slammed the awards show last year while referring to Taylor Swift’s bevy of noms, tweeting ‘If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.'”
Taylor Swift just seems to be the subject of feuds no matter where she goes. First, Katy Perry and the “Bad Blood” singer began a bit of a tiff, after Swift apparently hijacked Perry’s backup dancers a few years back. Then, Nicki Minaj felt snubbed due to being overlooked because of Taylor. At present, Taylor is in a pretty deep feud with power couple Kim Kardashian and Kanye West.
#MTVHottest Taylor Swift pic.twitter.com/Ikjm9X35HU
— Belu. (@SwiftyARG) July 29, 2016
There certainly is a lot of drama in the world of music.
M.I.A.’s latest album, A.I.M., is set to drop on September 9, 2016.
[Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images]
