After Viral Alex Jones Post, a Look Back at M.I.A.’s Anti-Vax History

M.I.A., the British-Sri Lankan musician known for her hit single “Paper Planes,” doesn’t hold back when it comes to her beliefs. And on Wednesday, the provocateur again ruffled feathers when she posted tweets about far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and the coronavirus vaccine.

This is far from the first time that M.I.A., whose real name is Maya Arulpragasam, has been critical of efforts to vaccinate against COVID-19. In fact, she’s posted her thoughts about the pandemic for years, once tweeting that she would rather “choose death” than get the jab.

On Wednesday, M.I.A. railed against the coronavirus vaccine on Twitter, writing: “If Alex jones pays for lying shouldn’t every celebrity pushing vaccines pay too?”

Earlier that day, Jones had been ordered to pay the families of Sandy Hook victims almost $1 billion in damages. The Infowars founder had long promoted lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut, falsely claiming that the massacre had been a “false flag” operation.

He’s also made outlandish claims surrounding the pandemic.

Jones and M.I.A. are far from the only celebrities who have been classified as “anti-vax.” Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers has spoken out against the jab, as have rappers Nicki Minaj and Offset.

M.I.A. was skeptical of the COVID-19 vaccine even before it was available. In spring 2020, she alleged that British Vogue nixed a feature story on her because of remarks she made about the inoculation, The Guardian reported at the time.

“If I have to choose the vaccine or chip I’m gonna choose death—YALA,” she tweeted on March 25, 2020. Urban Dictionary notes that “YALA” stands for “You Always Live Again,” the rapper’s play on “You Only Live Once” that’s based on her heritage.

M.I.A. posted another controversial tweet on March 25, 2020.

“Don’t panic you are ok. You are not gonna die,” she wrote. “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,” she continued.

But even though she’s seemingly distrustful of the medical establishment, M.I.A. has still pushed back against the anti-vax label.

“Anti vaxer [sic] is your term,” she wrote on Instagram in spring 2020, according to The Guardian. “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.”

M.I.A. has also previously posted musings on the outlandish theory connecting the coronavirus pandemic to 5G technology. Even though she said she didn’t believe that they were related, The Guardian reported that she claimed, “[5G] can confuse or slow the body down in healing process as body is learning to cope with new singles wavelength s [sic] frequency etc @ same time as Cov.”

Newsweek reached out to representatives for M.I.A. for comment.