[Shaun]

Article from the New Yorker:

The most important artist of the aughts played the Super Bowl last night. Maybe you saw it. In the middle of Madonna’s set, Maya Arulpragasam—professionally known as M.I.A.—performed her part in the new Madonna song, “Give Me All You Luvin’.” In the original video, she ends her kind of meh verse by saying “I’ma say this once—yeah, I don’t give a ****.” Also in the video, she makes the “finger gun” hand signal, synced to a gunshot that references her biggest hit, “Paper Planes.” Last night, she flipped America the bird, rather than a gun. Cue apologies and hand wringing.

As reported by Todd Martens and Patrick Kevin Day on the Los Angeles Times Web site, the NFL, NBC, and M.I.A. have all apologized. Tim Winter of the Parents Television Council, whose job is to get mad, got mad about this “offensive material.” So we have two subjects: the incident and the artist.

The outrage is tiresome and deeply hypocritical, in all the tiresome ways you’ve been tired out by before. M.I.A. was illustrating her line, acting out the attitude of the words: performing. Fine, it may not be legal to flip the bird on television, but that’s simply a remnant of the fifties we haven’t shaken. Unless somebody was handing out Xanax with the foam fingers, Lucas Oil Stadium was ringing with the music of profanities last night. More to the point, television viewers were submitted to ad after ad that likened women—negatively—to sofas, cars, and candy. Mr. Winter didn’t have anything to say about that, so I’d like to raise both of my middle fingers to him and anyone who thinks profanity is somehow more harmful to our children than images of violence and misogyny. (My two sons, fourteen and eleven, thought the Fiat ad was corny, so I guess they will be safe without Mr. Winter’s intervention.) I say we get out of The Pretending To Be Moral game altogether and use the Internet for important things like posting pictures of cats looking at croissants and PDFs of sensitive government documents.

The artist, of course, is M.I.A. About seven years ago, I praised her for several things, including turning the noxious generalization of “world music” into an idea that represents life as it is lived, and affords huge aesthetic possibilities. She made two albums that received all the praise they deserved, and then a third album called “/\/\/\Y/\,” which received a deeply weird and negative review in Pitchfork (unless you think M.I.A. is here only to provide “bangers” and hasn’t already vaulted way past her “potential as a pop artist” many times) and, most damagingly, the worst profile ever written about a musician, in the New York Times Magazine. (The trend of letting people who know nothing about music profile musicians is as outdated as fretting about cursing. Quite rightly, nobody would ever let me profile an Al Qaeda member; somehow, though, pop music is such a culturally light topic that no background is needed to cover it.)

Maya provokes, over and over, and if some of the provocations don’t entirely work, that hardly invalidates the ones that do. Her new single, “Bad Girls,” isn’t up to much, but director Roman Gavras makes it an uncanny combination of club swagger and rebel time-wasting in this video, a bit like a Syrian version of “Two-Lane Blacktop.” On the other side of the scale, Gavras and M.I.A. teamed up for the “Born Free” video, which was banned by YouTube (your go-to source for family-friendly material). Unless you’re living somewhere very unusual, the sight of white people being rounded up and shot is genuinely unsettling and not trivial, not when the U.S. is expanding its ability to detain people indefinitely and innocent people have been detained and tortured at Guantánamo Bay. Remind me why we’re talking about a middle finger again? I’m just sorry Maya apologized.

Read more http://www.newyorker.com/online/blog...#ixzz1leZA8OYi

[King Gizzard]

Casually brushing off the controversy.

Spoiler:

[Brother Leon]

Only just found out she is 36

[Locke.]

Haven't got a clue who she is to be honest, and if she isn't known in America either how did she get this slot?

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

bad girls is climbing on itunes in the US

it was 60something when i checked before now its 43

[Callum]

Originally Posted by Locke.

Haven't got a clue who she is to be honest, and if she isn't known in America either how did she get this slot?

She is known in America, her song Paper Planes was a big hit over there and her albums have done well there too. She is featured on Madonna's new single and was there to perform the song with her.

[rk3388]

shes not rly well known, but most people will know paper planes

[iRyan]

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Just America being so ****ing uptight as usual.

[iRyan]

Originally Posted by King_Anton

Only just found out she is 36

WTF. How is that possible!?

I thought she was like 24....

[Shaun]

She's a mother as well... I think she gave birth 3 years ago? (it was the night of the Oscars when Slumdog Millionaire won IIRC). You wouldn't think it with that body.

[Ninastar]

I remember seeing a gif of her in concert like 9 months pregnant and she was still dancing

[lostalex]

Originally Posted by Shaun

Article from the New Yorker:

Obnoxious superfan. That writer for the New Yorker sounds no different from all the Madonna fans insisting that she didn't lip-sync. sycophants...

M.I.A. is a spoiled self-righteous brat that doesn't know her ass from her elbow.

[Shaun]

it criticises some of her material i don't see how it's a super-fan... I posted it for the comments re: the "controversy", and how it's really nothing when compared to the messages of the advertisers.

But okay, lol.

[Roy Mars III]

Spoiler:

[Smithy]

Apparently Madonna was really pissed coz it was unprofessional

[Fetch The Bolt Cutters]

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/music/ne...-incident.html

Nobody knew she was going to pull this stunt. Madonna wanted to put on a world-beating performance. But everyone ended up talking about this girl's middle finger.

ha3

[bbfan1991]

Madonna's thunder got well and truly stolen. Parent groups are not happy, her next video will have to be more political correct now.

[Shaun]

yeah that won't happen.

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Jack_

Let me get this right...people are kicking up a fuss because she stuck her middle finger up?

How ****ing ridiculous. Do these people not have any other more important, pressing issues to consider and deal with rather than a spontaneous middle finger gesture which most people have done numerous times in their life? I cannot stand people that think actions like this are the worst type of crime on planet earth. Seriously...get over it.

It's a gesture...which represents a word..which has a certain meaning. Is it important? No. I'll never understand the big deal surrounding swearing. Who the **** cares?

Middle America .....

[Omah]

Originally Posted by Jack_

But why? Why are we all so concerned about some gestures, and, more importantly...the words that they represent?

It's just words. That's all it is, really. Words that have been given some so-called 'bad' meaning. But is it really that bad if someone swears? Not really. Is it the end of the world? Not really. It's only words, I don't see the big problem...I can't fathom why people get so riled up about the use of words. I just...don't understand, cause that's all it is. I don't know how to convey my thoughts any better than by just saying they're just words.

It's just a concept we all seem to have bought into from an early age. That all swear words are 'bad' and we must avoid them like the plague, and it is oh so bad if someone is heard to be saying one, but when you take those connotations away, all you're left with is some letters stuck together that form words like any other. Like clock, kitchen...they could all have supposed 'bad' meanings if we wanted them to, all swear words have derived over time yet we all still seem to buy into the idea that it's such an awful practice. Yet, let's the be honest, the large majority of adults do swear, have sworn, or wouldn't bat an eyelid if they heard people swearing in the street (albeit adults that is, children are 'looked down on' if heard).

I just don't get it. It's such a strange social concept. And there are far worse things going on in the world than the use of strong language...

You don't appear to be swearing .....

[BBfanUSA]

Originally Posted by iRyan

I don't understand what all the fuss is about. Just America being so ****ing uptight as usual.

you do realize that she did it during the biggest live program with at least 1/3 of america watching. But if no one pointed it out then we'd be on our merry way.

I hate the soccer moms they're dictating everything today on tv

[Saph]

Originally Posted by lostalex

Obnoxious superfan. That writer for the New Yorker sounds no different from all the Madonna fans insisting that she didn't lip-sync. sycophants...

M.I.A. is a spoiled self-righteous brat that doesn't know her ass from her elbow.

Why do you think that