MIA has issued a response to the NFL after the sports league sued her for using a middle finger gesture during a performance at the Super Bowl.
The rapper appeared alongside superstars Madonna and Nicki Minaj at the Super Bowl XLVI to perform their single Give Me All Your Luvin', during which she decided to flip the bird and mouth: "I don't give a shit."
Since then the NFL has demanded $1.5m in damages - which would be donated to charity - and a public apology, to which MIA has now responded. In a video clip initially posted by Pitchfork, which you can view below, she said:
"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."
According to the NFL, MIA's actions were in "in flagrant disregard for the values that form the cornerstone of the NFL brand and the Super Bowl."
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