So, for some reason, I guess the 10th anniversary of her debut album, Rolling Stone interviewed M.I.A. She talked about her exboyfriend dj, Diplo and how he’s an asshole, and then she talked about Oprah supposedly giving her the cold shoulder at some Oscar party in 2009. Seems legit.
“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., now 39, recalled to RS. “And I was like, ‘Hey, people are gonna f–king die in my country. Like, please pay attention.'”
(Born in London but of Sri Lankan Tamil descent, the musician — real name, Mathangi Arulpragasam — has been very outspoken about the political and social turmoil in the country where she was raised from a very young age. Her activism is controversial, though, and has alienated her in the past.)
According to M.I.A., Winfrey was unresponsive to her pleas for help. “She was like, ‘You’re s–t 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–k off,'” the Oscar-nominated Slumdog Millionaire rapper told Rolling Stone.
The OWN creator was apparently willing to pose for a photo with M.I.A., but that was it. “Yeah, she didn’t talk to me. She shut me down,” the musician 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–king Oprah and every American told me you’re going to save the world.'”
Well then. Was the couch jumping that long ago!? Seems like only yesterday we had that celebrity gem. Either way, M.I.A. seems like a very angry person and is railing on things that happened many years ago, but for what?