In an interview with Huck Magazine to promote her documentary, Matangi/Maya/M.I.A., the singer opened up about life after the infamous 2012 Super Bowl halftime performance where she flipped off the camera. Following the incident, the NFL filed a lawsuit claiming $16.6 million in damages before both sides reached a settlement in August 2014.
M.I.A. reveals that what happens to her in the doc is “a very tiny bit of what happened to me in real life.” The singer says that while she was in the midst of her suit where the league "would keep one hundred percent of my earnings for the rest of my life if I ever earned more than $2 million," she was being managed by Jay Z who urged her to "sign that shit," as ridiculous as it may seem.
"If you’re talking about racism and sexism, that moment in my life showed the cracks in everyone I knew. I was at Roc Nation at the time and Jay Z was managing me. 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.’"
Looking back at that ordeal, M.I.A. grew frustrated about how everything transpired, saying, "A middle finger, it’s like get a fucking grip. People were like, ‘oh you’re lucky you’re not in jail, give up all your profit, be this slave for the rest of your life.'"
She ended up quitting while she was ahead, confessing, “Oh god, I hope the NFL doesn’t sue me again for talking about it.”
