What makes Field Day’s decision problematic is twofold
The music industry is quick to embrace artists who shoot people or sell drugs. Commit those crimes and record companies may still offer a lucrative record deal.
But what’s one action that the industry finds too offensive? Appearing on a conservative podcast, apparently.
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U.K. rapper M.I.A., whose real name is Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, shared news this week that she has been removed from the Field Day outdoor music festival in London. Field Day has been an annual festival since 2007.
The festival organizers explained their decision by pointing to “online comments by the artist which could be viewed as being quite contentious.” They do not specify which comments, exactly. The email from Field Day goes on to say that “we have not taken the decision lightly, but we must consider the wider risk to the festival and its stakeholders.”
M.I.A. took to Twitter to share her reaction. “Festival organizers want artists to be boring Puppets,” she said.
The Grammy-nominated artist then offered an explanation for what transpired. She initially thought the cancelled festival appearance had to do with her Twitter activity. M.I.A. has made controversial statements on social media, some of which she has had to clarify in comments to the media. Last October, for example, she was asked by The Guardian to clarify her comments about vaccines.
But M.I.A. later clarified that her removal from Field Day had less to do with her social media comments and more to do with her interview on The Daily Wire’s Candace Owens podcast. “I think it’s more to do with me speaking on @RealCandaceO show,” she concluded.
So I’m finding out that this is more to do with Individual workers, at field-day office and not AEG head office , and I think it’s more to do with me speaking on @RealCandaceO show: The offer was made 2 weeks after Alex jones tweet but pulled a week after @RealCandaceO. https://t.co/BYSsEcjKgq
The podcast episode in question was released on Nov. 1, 2022, just a week before M.I.A. was told she would no longer be part of the festival. It’s not clear what M.I.A. said to Owens that would be grounds for cancellation. On the podcast, M.I.A. shared stories of childhood growing up in Sri Lanka and her experiences as a member of the Tamil community. M.I.A. also told Owens that Hollywood wanted her to be less political and more materialistic.
M.I.A. seems genuinely surprised by Field Day’s reaction to the podcast. “A brown person wrote that email to a brown artist because I went on black conservative show, pointing out all poor people should be unified: Make this make sense,” she tweeted.
The Uk has a brown PM . A brown person wrote that email to a brown artist because I went on black conservative show, pointing out all poor people should be unified:
Make this make sense. https://t.co/CAfcjmxYNu
Still, this is not the first time she says she has been removed from a festival. M.I.A. noted, “Speaking from experience I’ve been cancelled from a few festivals and they’ve all been liberal woke ones.”
Businesses certainly are free to distance themselves from M.I.A.’s political opinions. But what makes Field Day’s decision problematic is twofold.
First, if M.I.A. is correct about the festival’s opposition to a conservative podcast, Field Day is engaging in partisan politics and contributing to unhealthy political polarization.
Second, Field Day is upholding a bizarre ethical standard. If the music industry is going to punish people for being on conservative podcasts, how does it justify celebrating artists who promote crime and other social ills? Surely, there is no justification for such a warped sense of morality.
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