After bursting onto the Billboard charts with her hit song “Paper Planes” in 2008, M.I.A. has found herself in a sticky situation this holiday season. The Academy Award-nominated rapper, whose real name is Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam MBE, is currently estranged from her 14-year-old son, Ikhyd, and is desperate to spend Christmas with him. However, there’s just one problem – her visa to the United States has not been approved, meaning she can’t see her son.
In a heartfelt plea posted on social media, M.I.A. begged the United States government to “approve my visa, so I can see my American son this Christmas. It’s the right thing to do.” It seems the rapper is hoping to catch a diplomat or U.S. elected official’s attention in the hopes of making her holiday wishes come true.
To make matters even more complicated, M.I.A. has had a tumultuous co-parenting relationship with her ex-partner Benjamin Bronfman Jr., the father of Ikhyd. The two split in 2010, just a year after Ikhyd was born, and have been embroiled in a bitter custody battle ever since. In 2013, a court issued a ban that prevented M.I.A. from taking her son back to England, where she had relocated. Bronfman even secured a restraining order to stop her from taking their son across the pond.
The rapper has opened up about the challenges she has faced in trying to secure a U.S. visa and why she moved to London in the first place. She explained that she left because she “had a baby at that point” and “needed [her] mum.” However, the extensive review process set up by the U.S. government has made it difficult for her to return to see her son, whose father has physical custody of him.
But M.I.A.’s troubles don’t just stop at her visa issues. She has also faced backlash for her radical political positions and actions. In 2012, she infamously flipped the bird during a Super Bowl performance with singer Madonna, which resulted in the NFL trying to fine her $1.5 million and later suing her for $16.6 million. The NFL claimed she breached a pre-show agreement to maintain the NFL’s “reputation for wholesomeness.” However, M.I.A. ultimately settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount, under the advisement of Jay-Z.
Despite her run-ins with the NFL and her custody battles, M.I.A. continues to be present in the United States. However, her entry challenges may be attributed to her support for perceived terrorist groups, particularly Tamil revolutionaries in her parents’ native nation. This isn’t the first time she has faced entry denial due to controversial song lyrics and her father’s affiliations against the Sri Lankan government. And now, she finds herself once again grappling with immigration complications and past associations as she desperately tries to see her son for Christmas.
As of now, Bronfman has not commented on her plea for a visa approval. It seems that M.I.A.’s holiday wishes hang in the balance as she waits for a resolution to her visa woes. Let’s hope the United States government does the right thing and allows her to celebrate Christmas with her son. After all, it’s the season of giving, right?
