By Colombo Telegraph –
Finger Bowl … MIA performs with Madonna at the Super Bowl half-time show. Photograph: Christopher Polk/Getty Images
It was the most controversial Super Bowl show since Janet Jackson flashed some nipple. But can we really be outraged by MIA’s middle finger and a line from the new Madonna single?
You’d be forgiven for not having a coronary over the fact MIA gave Super Bowl viewers the finger during her half-time guest spot with Madonna. For most fans, it was probably more shocking to see MIA performing a rehearsed dance routine than flipping the bird. And besides, it was more than 35 years ago that Sex Pistols went on British television and called host Bill Grundy a “fucking rotter” – in comparison, MIA sticking her middle digit up and saying “I don’t give a shit” seems a bit tame (especially as she didn’t manage to get the full “shit” out, it more like a “shi”, really … maybe she had constipation).
But then this is the Super Bowl, a direct route to 110 million sports-loving American households. After the Rolling Stones and the Who played sedate shows at the event in recent years, viewers are not used to hearing someone go off piste. Even when “off piste” means singing the words of the song.
Madona and MIA
Perhaps it was agreed beforehand that the line “Imma say this one, yeah, I don’t give a shit” would be censored. Maybe Madonna expected MIA to tone down the words, only to be out-controversied by the Paper Planes star.
Either way, the NFL promptly issued an apology: “The obscene gesture in the performance was completely inappropriate, very disappointing, and we apologise to our fans.” NBC also apologised, no doubt aware of the 2004 controversy when Janet Jackson’s “wardrobe malfunction” sent commentators into meltdown. If they’re smart, though, NBC and the NFL will be thinking about the 2004 show for all the right reasons. After all, Jackson’s flash of nipple was eight years ago and people are still talking about it. Who remembers what Tom Petty played in 2008?
America secretly loves whipping itself up into a frenzy over this sort of thing, but it wasn’t just the rightwing press expressing outrage – even Pitchfork was in on the act. “In the few bars Madonna was kind enough to grant her during the biggest television event of the year, MIA’s message to America was simply, ‘Fuck you'” it complained, somewhat innacurately (surely the message was “I don’t give a shit”, otherwise she’d have just said “fuck you”). It went on to conclude that: “It wouldn’t be the worst idea [for MIA] to draw as much focus as possible back on to her music.”
Yes, because the Super Bowl half-time show has always been about the music …
courtesy The Guardian
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlEUz1IlN70&feature=player_embedded]
renuka / February 7, 2012
I love her!
/
Kamalika Rathnayaka / February 7, 2012
not thts a woman I dont like
just trying to gain attention to her self
Madge must’ve broken tht finger of hers by now! lol
/
Karu Abesinga / February 7, 2012
Who this MIA??
/
Thambimuttu - US / February 7, 2012
There are five known artists under this name: (1) Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, a British alternative dance musician and graphic artist of Tamil descent. (2) An 80’s American punk/hardcore band (3) An Argentinian progressive folk collective (4) An alias of Raphael Merriweathers Jr. (5) An alias of Michaela Grobelny (1) Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, (born 17 July 1977 in Hounslow, London, U.K.) is a British artist of Sri Lankan descent. As a baby she moved with her family to their native Sri Lanka, where her father became increasingly politically active in militant activities. As the Civil War escalated the rest of the family was forced to flee as refugees, first to India and then the UK. “M.I.A.” [“Missing In Action”] references both her London neighborhood (Acton) and her politically tumultuous youth
/
sonja / February 7, 2012
MIA used to be great, can’t say I’ve enjoyed any of her stuff now she has gone Stateside – get back to Hounslow!
/
Padraig Colman / February 7, 2012
Who gives a !@#$!%
/
DG US / February 7, 2012
No she didn’t. Did the IC shock the world with their silence when the Rajapakses murdered 100,000 Tamil civilians and bombed Hospitals and schools. IC supplied the weapons Who covered up. At least this Tamil girl is the world’s best rapper, and has guts, and feelings.. She is also very honest.
/
Bodinayaka / February 7, 2012
worlds best rapper in my @ss. wtf Are you Mia disguised as DG US? LOL. very honest? did you sleep with her?
/
pillayan / February 7, 2012
me too I think she is very honest giving finger she show the world who are the Tamils and why tamils have no country…they are simply morons.
/
Padraig Colman / February 7, 2012
“The freedom to engage in robust or even grubby comment must be defended.”
If that is so, why did they remove my harmless and unprofane comments on the Channel 4 Peace Prize thingy? Let’s have some consistency. Many people find the “C” word deeply offensive.
/
IS Senguttuvan / February 7, 2012
It takes all sort of stuff to catch the eye of an audience. Here it was nearly 140 mln in the US. Perhaps another
200 million elsewhere. MIA’s handlers are not going to let the occasion pass. MIA, in a way, outdid Madonna
and scored a publicity coup. That seems to be all that matters in a degenerate music/show world in US TV.
As far as the twisted ex-Lankan/East Londoner is concerned she gives a@#***it. She knows the power of the
finger.
ISS
/
gajan99 / February 7, 2012
Beautiful performance by MIA. What’s the problem with you guys?
/
Hari / February 7, 2012
Pathetic!
/
Alice Achchi / February 7, 2012
Who give a #*@#$% Middle finger other finger what the $#%@@%$$%
/
ken / February 7, 2012
first of all ( kamalik rathnayaka,karu abesinghe nanayakkara bodinayalk)you guys have thank to M.I.A. because she educate you wat is amrican food ball.i think you guys know only L..A. 2 one is please dont be racist she is sri lankan and lot of people know sri-lanka thorugh her or sunami. may be she is not good raper. but these moves are hollywood syle.every superbowl their is isue you read the history of superbowl.and M.I.A she dont give dam. she make her money she go.i am realy proud of her she performing with pop icon grate madona. she came from my country(sri lanka) and first srilnkan to perform in suprerbowl.
i like her i wish her to good luck and more from her thanks
/
Bodinayaka / February 8, 2012
we don’t want Sri lanka to be popularized using middle finger you stupid, specially with the superputball crowd. You think Sri Lanka is only popular of Tsunami and MIA? What a retard. That’s with the people you are living with i guess. Uneducated retards like u may B. I’ll ask her to put that finger in your @ss and play kottta pora with her while your bappa play pora pol.
/
Cabs / February 7, 2012
This women was supporter and member of ruthless racist LTTE terrorists. So what else you can Accept from her
/
saba1979 / February 7, 2012
poor MIA. We know how she’s desperate to become a superstitious. Everytime she chose the wrong path whilst blaming others rather than giving good messages to her fans.
/
Padraig Colman / February 8, 2012
“We know how she’s desperate to become a superstitious.” I don’t understand that.
/
sadith / February 7, 2012
This MIA is a bloody tamil terrorist, who gave money to terrorist to do war crimes, in other words this b…. is a war criminal. As usual these tamils doesn’t have any respect to others, it’s in their DNA! Cannot hide whatever the occasion or place. Somebody should take the responsibility for staging this kind of mean people on national TV
/
L de Mel / February 8, 2012
This woman calling herself MIA or M.I.A appeared on several Western TV channel just after the conclusion of the war against terror and castigated Sri Lanka and came out with some utter rubbish about the so-called ethnic issue. As far as I know her father is an active LTTE supporter.
I think the Sri Lankan Tamils are suffering from a huge inferiority complex and a “victim” mentality. This is reflected in the mentality and actions of the Tamil politicians, who appear to relish propagating the myth about the injustices perpetrated by the Sinhala regimes and thus wanting a separate state in the North/East. This has been the mantra of these politicians since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948! And the gullible westerners just lap it up and the opportunistic “peace/human rights/media freedom vendors” in Sri Lanka make millions out of this “victim industry”. Wake up people and face reality and learn to live together with the other communities in multi-ethnic, multi-cultural Sri Lanka.
/
Bodinayaka / February 7, 2012
MIA is not a supporter of LTTE. Tamils Eelam supporters want to use her to make a voice. She is like any other dumb women getting carried away without knowing facts. So do not have bad feelings for a dumb kid. She has right to be angry because she suffered from this fucking issues happened in her youth. She should have put that finger in Madonas Ass instead of showing it to public. Tamil and Sinhala people have a rich heritage history which no any other country have. Unless the leaders make them to understand their value it’s a adopted showing finger type dumb culture shit. I would like to see they work to it before I die. No country can do sacrifices they did for thirty years. Only Sri Lanka. if they united no country can come close to them. No country. trust me. Now I’m trying my best to bend and apply some lubricant in my virgin ass for the sake of Sri lanka our mother land. Fuck you motherfuckers.
/
Jayantha / February 7, 2012
what do you want to say exactly
/
Bodinayaka / February 8, 2012
I want to say I’m drunk now and Mia should have been a good women female bomber and blast the whole superPutball stadiam with maradona. . she missed the chance. shik. Nodakin
/
Naga / February 7, 2012
This is the woman who spoke about Tamil culture, tradition and wanted to be a voice for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. This is a good way of promoting her ideals with the middle finger. Shit!
/
Bodinayaka / February 8, 2012
for your information she have a song with some shot gun loading and shooting remix. Bang bang . The gun culture or you can call it art. I suggest her to add some coconut breaking sound to it. You know what I mean. When coconut hit a stone it makes sound. that cracking sound. why the hell i waste my time for this crap by the way
/
nimwet / February 8, 2012
Disgrace for Tamils.
/
Padraig Colman / February 10, 2012
I have written about this subject elsewhere. See:
http://pcolman.wordpress.com/2012/02/09/mia-flips-the-bird/
/
Max Silva / February 10, 2012
I guess all my Tamil and Sinhalese friends are talking about politics.We all get old.But no mistake.Madonna is #1.Ridiculously the Sinhalese are making a big fuss about MIA.On the other hand my Tamil friends are trying to make a hero out of MIA. What’s the problem here?MIA making bad signs?After all the US and UK are supposed to be god fathers of free expression.So what’s the big deal?Why get worked up with MIA making unacceptable signs?US and UK are supposed to be free countries.But not for Julian Assange .Let the Srilankans sought out their problems without outside interference.Don’t fish in troubled waters.Also don’t preach us a bout free speech.Check Julian Assange.Also if you have any free time just ask David Miliband!
/
Padraig Colman / February 10, 2012
Max, you are displaying some confusion here. The sign is not important. Also i am not denying MIA’s right to self-expression.Self-expression also includes making people aware of what MIA’s views are.
/
Max Silva / February 10, 2012
No,no not confusion.Other than that i totally agree with you.Free expressions,OK.But Julian Assange never had that chance.You guys are making a big deal out of a Srilankan woman.Doesn’t matter whether she is Sihalese or Tamil.As said earlier we will sought out our problems.But why take on a colured woman?When it comes to election time in UK they are all over the Srilankan community.Fishing in troubled waters.eh?Padraig,you are highly intelligent.So why don’t you believe in yourself?For instance,how about Boston breaks?MIA whether she is a terrorist or not what she did wasn’t nothing much.Just consider when president Rajapakse went to UK some time back,he was hooted and humiliated in right royal British fashion.We never complained.So whats the big deal here?Still Madonna is #1.Once gain i like to know your views about Julian Assange .Of course you would say that he is a traitor.Anyway lets carry on.Pl don’t say that i am confused.As for MIA if the Brits don’t want her,she is welcome here.After all she is a Srilankan.AS said earlier,fishing in troubled waters,eh!So lets talk.at least for the sake of so called democracy.
/
padraigcolman / February 18, 2012
“Padraig,you are highly intelligent.So why don’t you believe in yourself?For instance,how about Boston breaks?”
Thank you for the compliment Max. Sorry to say you were confused. I am confused. I am not intelligent enough to understand the point you are making. What is that about me not believing in myself?
As someone who has been given a welcome in Sri Lanka and has made it his home for ten years, I feel a responsibility to clear up the misconceptions of foreigners about the country.
I agree that MIA is not that important but I would like to explain her background to westerners who do not know it.
I agree that it would be good if MIA and other Sri Lankan expatriates could return and live in Sri Lanka.
I, for one, did complain about the treatment President Rajapaksa received when he was invited to the Oxford Union.
No, I do not think Assange is a traitor. I believe very much in freedom of speech.
I look forward to exchanging views with you in the future.
/
padraigcolman / February 18, 2012
Max,
Did you read what I wrote about David Miliband?
http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=34850
/
Max Silva / February 10, 2012
My reply has not been posted.Anyway lets see.
/
Max Silva / February 10, 2012
JUlian Assange never had that luxury of free expression.
/