M.I.A. expressed her disappointment that her music video for “Borders” wasn’t on this year’s list of MTV VMAs nominees in a series of tweets Thursday. The self-directed video which addressed the Syrian refugee crisis by building boats out of people was blanked by the nominating committee, a decision that M.I.A. called racist, sexist, classist and elitist in a Twitter rant on July 28. “Racism sexism classism elitism #dontwantyourlane!”.
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The VMAs typically recognize videos that make a significant cultural/pop cultural impact, and considering the fact that “Borders” is bringing awareness to a marginalized group (and has been watched three million times on Vevo), the lack of nomination seems at the very least worthy of further discussion.
BORDERS came representing people outside United States showing. According to the rapper, artists with provocative voices about global politics are routinely excluded from mainstream celebrations.
The British singer received a video of the year nomination for her smash-hit single Hello, while Beyonce was nominated for her Black Lives Matter-themed video Formation. This is a flawless example of “allowed” voice vs excluded voices.Even if U direct it. Or this kid in Pakistan matters? “That’s a more interesting question”. M.I.A.’s new album A.I.M. is released on September 9.
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Following the nominations, the artist took to Twitter to criticise her exclusion as indicative of the lack of platform for those other than major USA artists.
