British Vogue have cancelled a planned interview with M.I.A over her controversial coronavirus vaccination comments.
The 44-year-old singer – whose real name is Mathangi Arulpragasam – admitted on social media last month that she is against immunisation against potentially-deadly diseases, and said she would "choose death" over being vaccinated against coronavirus.
And in response to her comments, she has now revealed British Vogue have pulled plans to feature her in the August issue of the magazine.
M.I.A shared a screenshot of a WhatsApp message from an unspecified sender, which read: "Hey maya – sadly Edward/vogue has decided withdraw the offer for vogue spread in August due to vaccination comments….
"From the editor: "considering our August is an issue where we’re chronicling the struggles of the NHS to cope while a vaccine is tried to be made we don’t feel we can have her involved. It just wouldn’t be right. All of our issues July-September will be supporting the front line heath care workers and we need to be respectful of them and all they are doing until a vaccine exists." (sic)"
In the caption of her post, the ‘Paper Planes’ singer then hit out at the publication, as she claimed the "lack of discussion" around the topic of vaccinations is "censorship".
In part of a lengthy message, she wrote: "Dear vogue
Thank you for really being understanding . Thank you for not forgetting that I was helping Jeremy Corbyn fight for the NHS, when everyone voted Boris.
"Thank you for not forgetting that I stood with Tamils when the Sri lankan government was bombing UN civilian hospitals , taking financial /career hit .
"Thank you for not forgetting that I live to speak for immigrants who hold up the healthcare systems of the west.
"Thank you for acknowledging that choice is a liberty I choose to excerise and fight for , thank you for giving me the time to research how many people’s lives have been affected by enforced vaccines across many African countries . Especially causing infertility in African women.
"Thank you for considering me for the feature however I’m going to be busy researching ….. won’t be able to make it.
"anti vaxer is your term . It didn’t exist before this binary addiction everyone has to separate everything into this and that . Anti this Anti that.
"I prefer to not make everything so black and white. I’m sure there’s variety of doctors researchers and labs and counties who understands what’s happenings , I’m sure there are good drugs and bad drugs out there . Just doing research isn’t an anti anything but pro respecting the process . Btw how many vaccines are you prepared to have? one a year ? 10 a month ? 2 a year ? Lack of discussion is censorship. (sic)"
M.I.A’s original comments came as she revealed her 11-year-old son Ikyhyd – who she has with former fiance Benjamin Bronfman – once suffered a bad reaction when he had vaccinations before starting school.
She tweeted: "If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I’m gonna choose death.
"In America they made me vaccinate my child before the school admission," she added. "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 (sic)"
Asked by a follower if she is an anti-vaxxer, she confirmed: "Yeah."
The singer also suggested the current pandemic was man-made for profit, and insisted people are not "gonna die" from coronavirus and don’t need to "stress the medical systems" if they fall ill.
As of the time of writing, over 2.5 million people have been infected with coronavirus, and almost 180,000 have died as a result of the respiratory illness.
British Vogue axe interview with M.I.A over anti-vaxx comments
