M.I.A. Claims Jay-Z Told Her to Sign a “Ridiculous” NFL Lawsuit

In 2013, M.I.A. was hit with a lawsuit from the NFL after she flashed the middle finger during her performance at the 2012 Super Bowl halftime show. Now, in an interview with Huck, the artist discusses her new documentary Matangi / Maya / M.I.A. and claims Jay-Z urged her to sign a bad deal.

After the controversial performance, the NFL served M.I.A. with a $16.6 million lawsuit. According to M.I.A., her then-manager Jay-Z wanted her to sign the suit that would have had her turning over earnings for the rest of her life.

"I was at Roc Nation at the time and Jay-Z was managing me," she said. "The lawsuit was so ridiculous, it proposed that they would keep one hundred percent of my earnings for the rest of my life if I ever earned more than $2 million dollars. Jay-Z was, like, 'you should sign that shit' and I was, like, 'no.'"

M.I.A. didn't go into further details about the lawsuit but did joke about being sued again, "Oh god, I hope the NFL doesn't sue me again for talking about it." Before saying anything else about the league or the lawsuit, the artist was stopped and added, "Oh, I'm not supposed to talk about it."

During her performance of "Give Me All Your Lovin'" with Madonna and Nicki Minaj at the Super Bowl, M.I.A. omitted the word "shit" during her verse and instead flashed her middle finger directly to a camera. According to NBC at the time, the artist had kept it clean during rehearsals but slipped the gesture in during the live performance.

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