Outspoken musician M.I.A. has taken aim at a major celeb in this new interview, but her claims don’t really ring true.
M.I.A. is a vocal activist against the human rights abuses and war crimes that Sri Lanka is accused of perpetrating against the Tamils. Now the rapper, who is extremely outspoken about her home country’s tenuous political situation, claims that when she asked Oprah for help spreading the word about the humanitarian issues her people face, she was shot down hardcore.
“In 2009, Time nominated me for one of the most influential people of the 21st century or something and I met Oprah at that party,” M.I.A. said in a new Rolling Stone interview. “And I was like, ‘Hey, people are gonna f***ing die in my country. Like, please pay attention.'”
“She was like, ‘You’re shit because you were rude to Lady Gaga and I’m not talking to you. And I’m gonna interview Tom Cruise jumping on my sofa, so f*** off.'”
More:We know who M.I.A. was flipping off at the Super Bowl
M.I.A. said all the media mogul would agree to was a photo together, but refused to stay and chat.
“Yeah, she didn’t talk to me. She shut me down,” she claimed. “She took that photo of me, but she was just like, ‘I can’t talk to you because you’re crazy and you’re a terrorist.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m not. I’m a Tamil and there are people dying in my country and you have to, like, look at it because you’re f***ing Oprah and every American told me you’re going to save the world.'”
For the record, the Tom Cruise couch-jumping incident took place in 2005, so we have a suspicion that those are not exactly the words that came out of Oprah’s mouth. And Time named her one of the world’s 100 most influential people in 2010, not 2009.
While M.I.A.’s credibility on the Oprah incident may be shaky, we actually believe the story she told about her ex, Diplo.
“When I got signed by Interscope, he literally smashed my hotel room and broke all the furniture because he was so angry I got picked up by a major label and it was the corniest thing in the world that could possibly happen…” she shared. “I wish I enjoyed it because I had this person on my shoulder the whole time saying, ‘It’s shit, it’s shit, it’s shit. You shouldn’t be on the charts. You shouldn’t be in the magazines and you should not be going to interviews. You should not be doing collaborations with famous people. You should be an underground artist.'”
Ironic considering how mainstream Diplo is himself now, having collaborated with the likes of Madonna, Usher, Chris Brown and Britney Spears.
“It’s only now when I look back at it in 2015, I can see that he was just jealous and he couldn’t wait to be Taylor Swift’s best friend and date Katy Perry,” she said. “But at that time, I believed him.”
Neither Oprah nor Diplo have commented on her claims.
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