M.I.A. thinks coronavirus is some kind of pro-vaccine, big-business conspiracy

M.I.A performing live at the Ultra Music Festival

I have complicated feelings about M.I.A. On one hand, she’s one of the most talented women to come out of the ‘00s, and her stories about men in the music industry taking credit for her work were before their time and they definitely deserve another review. On the other hand, she has kind of extremist political and social views which have given her a (well-earned) reputation as a loose cannon. M.I.A. doesn’t get a ton of attention these days, but she did this week when she was chatting with people on social media. Apparently, she’s anti-Vaxx. As I’m thinking about it… that seems entirely on-brand for her.

As the coronavirus continues to spread at a dangerous rate, and scientists are working to create a vaccine, M.I.A. has revealed a controversial opinion.

The rapper took to Twitter on Wednesday (March 25) to announce, “If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I’m gonna choose death.”

When a follower called her out for being an “anti vaxxer,” the rapper responded with, “Yeah in America they made me [vaccinate] my child before the school admission. It was the hardest thing. To not have choice over this as a mother. I never wanna feel that again. He was so sick for 3 weeks then Docs had to pump him with antibiotics to reduce the fever from 3 vaxins.”

In a now-deleted tweet, she “clarified” her reasoning: “Most of science is in bed with business. Business is in bed with banks, banks are in bed with tech, tech’s in bed with us, [we’re] in bed with corona. Corona is in bed with science. So on …”

“As an adult you have choice! By then you’ve built your immune system. You have a choice as an “adult” wishing you all good health,” she continued in a since-deleted tweet, before adding, “Don’t panic you are ok. You are not gonna die. You can make it without stressing the medical systems. Just breathe. You are going to be ok. You can make it through without jumping in the frying pan. You are fine. All the vaccines [you’ve] already had is enough to see you through.”

M.I.A. is ready to face backlash, concluding with the statement: “Cancelling is irrelevant!”

[From Billboard]

“Most of science is in bed with business. Business is in bed with banks, banks are in bed with tech, tech’s in bed with us, [we’re] in bed with corona. Corona is in bed with science…” This is what I don’t understand about this kind of reasoning: the idea that somehow Big Business and Big Pharma WANTS us to be in a global pandemic, in a global recession, with people dying alone in hospitals because there aren’t enough respirators. Literally, all of that is bad for business, bad for Pharma, bad for the country, bad for the economy. As for a “coronavirus vaccine” – we’re not even there yet! We’re probably a year away from having a viable corona-vaccine, probably longer. And if it happens, it should absolutely be f–king mandatory because you know those anti-Vaxx a–holes will try to make it into a thing.

M.I.A. concert in Toronto

Photos courtesy of WENN.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

54 Responses to “M.I.A. thinks coronavirus is some kind of pro-vaccine, big-business conspiracy”

Comments are Closed

We close comments on older posts to fight comment spam.

  1. Thea says:

    Another day, another dumb celebrity

  2. SKF says:

    That is not how vaccines, immune systems or science works!!! Ugh! She is often extremely frustrating and almost deliberately obtuse. Love her music but she certainly loves to say crazy sh*t!

    • Arpeggi says:

      Yeah, whenever people criticize vaccines and say that they have a good immune system/want their immune memory be built “naturally”, I really want to ask them to tell me how vaccines work and how you build immunity. I’m very certain they don’t have a freakin’ clue about any of it.

  3. Redgrl says:

    SHUT UP. God, what an idiot. And the tone deaf statement of “just breathe” when people are gasping for breath and dying because of a lack of ventilators makes me beyond furious.

  4. LaUnicaAngelina says:

    Nawwwwwww ugh

  5. Trillian says:

    Can we just lock her up for a day in a hospital in Bergamo, Italy?

  6. MeghanNotMarkle says:

    You can’t fix stupid.

  7. Veronica S. says:

    Jesus H. If your child got better from antibiotics, it wasn’t the vaccine that made him sick, moron. I cannot with the absolute ignorance of some people with platforms.

    My whole thing is…all of this ~big pharma~ conspiracy is hilarious specificalyl because it’s not a conspiracy – they’re doing it right in front of you! It’s legal for them to do it! There’s no limits on what they can upcharge here in America! Why the hell would they need a worldwide pandemic when they can charge you thousands for a bottle of insulin that took a $1 to make!

  8. Still_Sarah says:

    Sigh. It’s hard to know how to reply to this. I remember reading that some people are attracted to conspiracy theories because it makes them feel powerful and smart like THEY have secret information that no one else has. It pumps up their egos. So people who feel that they aren’t very smart tend to gravitate towards this.

    • Melisande says:

      It’s the truth. It makes them feel special and smart… they figured it out and nobody else has.

    • Jules says:

      Yes, this. They are also meant to create and inspire more fear and panic.

    • Meg says:

      Good point, makes me think of Scientology when i read that

    • Trashaddict says:

      Also need something/someone to blame this on. If it’s just random and can happen to anyone, they have no control over it and that’s really scary.

    • whitecat says:

      I actually think a lot of people believe conspiracy theories not because it makes them necessarily feel powerful, but because they are afraid of what is happening and conspiracy theories offer *at least* some kind of explanation, even if it’s problematic and/or dangerous. Te thing is we don’t know what will happen with this pandemic, the effects of it. We are still seeing only some of the effects, and this is why it’s scary. People find comfort in believing in conspiracy theories. Please bear in mind, it’s not just priviliged white american MAGA men who also believe in conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories are quite popular in many dictatorship or countries that have authoritarian governments… and you know why? Because they are used to the government lying to them – so believing in conspiracy theories is not really that far fetched. Remember, the whole world is not living in a democracy or a country with freedom of speech and a free press, and this pandemic is affecting EVERYONE – not just America.

      I am not excusing conspiracy theorists, I am offering another possible explanation. After all, how can we dissuade people who live in authoritarian governments (or cultures that do not encourage a free-speech/free-press society) NOT to believe in conspiracy theories? It’s also why these conspiracies are so effective in many fragile democracies.

  9. Desical says:

    “He was so sick for 3 weeks then Docs had to pump him with antibiotics to reduce the fever from 3 vaxins.” This sentence just captures how ignorant she is.

    • goofpuff says:

      More likely just lying really because that sentence is pretty dumb to begin with all the incorrect stuff in it. Antibiotics? Really? Obviously she doesn’t know what antibiotics are for, or how fevers work, or even how vaccines are supposed to work.

  10. OriginalLala says:

    The ignorance and stupidity is unfathomable…..celebrities like her are why we shouldn’t be looking to them for guidance.

  11. Lea says:

    Conspiracy theories are on brand for her. I remember when she demanded custody of her son (as far as I remember, her son was primarily cared for by his father in the US, and all of a sudden she wanted him to live with her in the UK), she didn’t get it and she also claimed it was a conspiracy against her (despite the fact that she sometimes spent months without visiting her son, and that her only reason for wanting to uproot him was that she felt more important than his dad).
    I feel like being anti-vax is the epitome of privilege. I work for my country’s health system and have seen a lot of people coming from other countries with difficult access to vaccines, and with lifelong illnesses that could have easily been prevented.

  12. Suz says:

    So she’s anti-vaxx, but then reassures us we’ll be okay as adults BECAUSE of the vaccines we’ve received? Oh, look, another anti-vaxxer devoid of logic.
    Gurl, I love Arular. I will still listen to that album front to back, but stfu.

  13. emmy says:

    I used to make fun of conspiracy people. But these past few years have been so insane everywhere, it’s hard to wrap you head around and I think a lot of people just can’t take many things at face value anymore. It’s not an excuse to not vaccinate your kid (VACCINATE YOUR KID) or to be reckless with other people’s wellbeing in general. Or to sell snake oil. But you watch docs like Dirty Money or you see what came out in the Panama Papers etc. and THEN you see what the President of the frickin’ United States of America does right out in the open, how it’s apparently mob rule in America and there are no consequences to him endangering millions, and it gets harder to trust anything people with money and power tell you.

    I’m not supportive of wild theories people like Glenn Beck or whoever spew. That’s crazy. I don’t believe this virus was “done to us”. Sh*t just happens. But at this point, when regular people who aren’t making money off of those “performances” talk like this, I see how it happens.

    But seriously, vaccinate. Please.

    • Jules says:

      Stay informed, know what is out there. Energetically speaking, conspiracy theories are low vibrational thought forms. Do not feed into them. If enough people keep reading about them and start to believe in them, we will actually give life to them and therefore create them. Key is to rise above it all!

      • emmy says:

        That’s easier said than done. Because crazy things do happen, as I said. I don’t know what low vibrational thought forms are but I do know that staying informed is also easier said than done. On the one hand you drown in information, on the other a lot is kept from us. So yeah, being zen about it doesn’t always help. We don’t need to create insanity like Epstein and his network of shady powerplayers, money and human trafficking. We’ll never know the whole truth I suspect so tell me how to rise above that.

      • Jules says:

        Yea it’s a bit esoteric. If enough people “believe” in conspiracy theories, they will come true, because believing in them creates them. So don’t cave in to the fear, panic and hysteria associated with all of this.

      • emmy says:

        That’s not how it works.

  14. TQ says:

    What an uninformed a**hole. Spreading this crap around is irresponsible. Grow the eff up, MIA.

  15. Frida_K says:

    I’m an acupuncturist and just as hostile to Big Pharma as the next holistic healthcare practitioner, but this is just stupid.

    Some things require Western medicine. Bipolar and other serious mental illnesses. HIV/AIDS. Cancer. COVID19.

    Yes, there are ways that acupuncture and herbal medicine can support wellness and/or healing when one lives with any of the above conditions. But it needs to be part of a strategy that includes, and more safely indeed privileges, Western medicine.

    And antivaxxers made me grit my teeth. You can space out your child’s injection schedule is there is a reasonable cause to do so (and you do so in cooperation with your pediatrician), but to just stomp your feet and say, “Not my Little Prince or Princess! We have FREEDOM!” is spectacularly dumb and dangerous.

    She’s an idiot. A dangerous idiot.

  16. Sayrah says:

    I’m a pharma rep. We can’t do our jobs right now and may be on the brink of layoffs. I assure you this situation isn’t helping us at all.

  17. NotHeidisGirl says:

    Yes M.I.A. And don‘t forget the toilet paper industry – they are in it too!

    Are these people bored out of their mind to spew this BS?

  18. Tiffany says:

    Spoken like a complete idiot who has children with a heir to a billion dollars.

  19. Ariela says:

    She is so beautiful and so talented, yet such a dick. I can’t with her.

  20. Bunny says:

    “Most of science is in bed with business”

    F her. Researchers, doctors and nurses, all of whom have studied SCIENCE, are putting their own lives on the line without adequate personal protection equipment, without food, without sleep, without seeing their own families. They’re sacrificing themselves for all of us.

    People in science are, have, and will continue to make huge sacrifices as adherents to the TRUTH.

    She’s a privileged piece of garbage, using her position to spout lies, then dirty deleting.

  21. LunaSF says:

    What an idiot! I told my husband that even if we get a coronavirus vaccine in the near future it probably won’t work very well since so much of the population in believing the anti vaccination agenda! I can’t believe how dumb people are.

    • lucy2 says:

      I’ve been wondering that…I’m hoping this changes the tune of a lot of anti-vaxxers. They’re that way because they haven’t experienced things like polio, measles, whooping cough, etc. But now, they’re likely to know someone sick or even killed by this virus, so maybe, just maybe, it’ll stop a few of them from being so stupid and foolish.
      That way we can protect those who truly aren’t able to get the vaccine.

  22. lucy2 says:

    1 – Yes, if your child wants to go to school, you must vaccinate to protect your child, and those who truly can’t get vaccinated.
    2 – I suspect watching your child suffer or God forbid die from a preventable disease would be the “hardest thing”.
    3 – You can’t yell about “Big Pharma” and science, and then happily accept antibiotics. You can’t be anti-vaccine and then claim that all the vaccines we’ve already had will protect us from this BRAND NEW virus.

  23. Valerie says:

    Oh, shit, not another one.

  24. AnnaKist says:

    Geez, what a dingbat.

  25. Mabs A'Mabbin says:

    Sometimes you just have to access very simple thinking. If something is bad for business, there’s not a conspiracy lol. Yes, they’re all in bed together, and that bed is called profit. Nothing more, nothing less. Millions of people staying home is NOT good for businesses.

  26. ME says:

    So stupid. I also wonder, are the people who aren’t taking social distancing seriously all the anti-vaxxers? I mean they have no problem with all the other viruses their kids can catch so I’m assuming they aren’t scared of COVID-19? Morons, all of them.

  27. Montrealaise says:

    She’d rather die from a disease than be vaccinated against that disease? I can sense a Darwin Award coming on.

  28. Mina_Esq says:

    I can’t take any anti-vaxxer seriously. I have no respect for you when you have no respect for the right of those round you to not be exposed to significant risk because of your half-baked opinion on a scientific fact.

  29. Tifffany :) says:

    These comments are SO DANGEROUS! And does she realize that over 1000 Americans have ALREADY died, that tens of thousands have died all over the world? What an ignorant and dangerous fool!

    “Don’t panic you are ok. You are not gonna die. You can make it without stressing the medical systems. Just breathe. You are going to be ok. You can make it through without jumping in the frying pan. You are fine. All the vaccines [you’ve] already had is enough to see you through.”

    Such dangerous lies!

  30. Kimberly says:

    She doesnt look like a person with a healthy immune system. I hope she doesn’t get covid19.

  31. Venus says:

    My FIL’s healthcare aide thinks people get coronavirus because they got the flu vaccine. JFC.

  32. Case says:

    ”This is what I don’t understand about this kind of reasoning: the idea that somehow Big Business and Big Pharma WANTS us to be in a global pandemic, in a global recession, with people dying alone in hospitals because there aren’t enough respirators. Literally, all of that is bad for business, bad for Pharma, bad for the country, bad for the economy.“

    Thank you! I’ve seen people in my own life coming up with conspiracy theories that this is a pharma/government thing and I’ve thought the exact same thing.

  33. JillyBean says:

    What a useless uneducated twit. She should go away like the 00’s

  34. Eda says:

    Do anti-vaxxers oppose other public health interventions, too, because “everyone has an agenda” and they “know better”? Like seatbelts? I’m just curious, where do they draw the line?

    When I put it in this context, they appear even more moronic to me. I wonder if they ever consider that themselves.

  35. lil_G says:

    the important thing to remember about her is she married a billionaire. who does she think she’s talking about when she says “big business” ?? oy vey

  36. Mash says:

    Yea I’m not with vaccinations. Microchip is coming