M.I.A. opens up about 'ridiculous' NFL lawsuit over Super Bowl middle finger
Six years after her controversial halftime performance at Super Bowl XLVI, M.I.A. is speaking out about her legal battle with the NFL.
The league demanded $16.6 million in damages from the rapper, whose real name is Maya Arulpragasam, after she flashed her middle finger to the camera while on stage with Madonna and Nicki Minaj. The two sides eventually settled for an undisclosed amount.
In an interview with Daniel Dylan Wray of Huck Magazine to promote her upcoming documentary, M.I.A. said that while in the midst of the lawsuit, her then-manager, Jay-Z, urged her to agree to a settlement that would see most of her earnings go to the NFL.
"If you're talking about racism and sexism, that moment in my life showed the cracks in everyone I knew," she explained. "I was at Roc Nation at the time and Jay-Z was managing me. The lawsuit was so ridiculous, it proposed that they would keep one hundred percent of my earnings for the rest of my life if I ever earned more than $2 million. Jay-Z was like, 'You should sign that sh--,' and I was like, 'No.'"
While M.I.A. said she's over the whole incident, she does have some lingering frustrations.
"A middle finger, it's like get a f---ing grip," she said.