M.I.A has been hailed for her song ‘Borders’ and accompanying video raising the plight of migrants – and rightly so, it’s one of the best music videos of 2015.
But French footballing giants Paris Saint-Germain have taken issue with the fact the British musician sported a PSG away shirt on which the sponsor’s slogan had been altered to “Fly Pirates” instead of ‘Fly Emirates’.
And now the rapper – who escaped the violence of a civil war in Sri Lanka to come to London as a small refugee child – has spoken out against the demand…
https://www.instagram.com/p/BAZTZDXHXAJ/?taken-by=miamatangi
M.I.A. – whose real name is Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam – insists the club has “gone over their head” asking for her to “cease all use of the image and brand, and compensate the franchise for damages incurred as a result of the video”, because she believes it’s simply a “fashion issue” not political.
She told Democracy Now!: “Obviously I don’t want to talk about fashion, but this is a fashion issue. You know, it’s a T-shirt. And the bigger picture and the bigger message in the video is completely ignored. It’s gone over their head. And I think that it’s really difficult to control something like that.”
“I think for [PSG] to control that is a really stupid thing. You know, I can’t control something like that. And it’s just realistic, I thought, in representing the migrant community. You know, how do you leave that piece out if you’re making something or trying to make something realistic?”
Clearly the lucrative sponsor is kicking off…hopefully someone with authority at PSG will see the bigger picture.
