M.I.A. says she faced ‘backlash’ to career for saying ‘Jesus is real’

Outspoken singer M.I.A. claimed her profession of faith in Jesus Christ garnered her more backlash than any other statement she’s made.

“The fact that the biggest back lash in my career and life I’m facing after saying ‘Jesus is real’ is such a revelation to me. People who control these apps rather me be a bad girl, then a good one,” The British rapper shared on Twitter.

The “Paper Planes” singer, whose real name is Mathangi “Maya” Arulpragasam, told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe that she became a “born again Christian” after having a supernatural encounter.

Arulpragasam claimed she saw a “vision of Jesus Christ” that “turned her world upside down,” according to the comments picked up the Christian Post.

The singer said she was raised Hindu and thought of Jesus as a “silly story” prior to this experience.

Arulpragasam has courted controversy for her radical political activism which has included supporting a U.S. designated terrorist group. In 2006, she was allegedly banned from entering the United States.

She also settled a lawsuit with the NFL after giving the middle finger during her 2012 Super Bowl performance. 

But the singer predicted she’d lose more fans because of her newfound faith.

“Basically, all of my fans might turn against me because they are all progressives who hate people that believe in Jesus Christ in this country,” she said in the Apple Music interview.

“[E]ven if it costs me my career, I won’t lie. I will tell the truth, and I will tell you what’s on my mind and my heart. If I’m coming back now saying ‘Jesus is real,’ there’s a point,” she added.

The singer told Relevant Magazine in September she doesn’t have all the answers but is still coming to terms with her spiritual experience.

“I’m still very much even working out what this all means,” she conceded. “At the moment, I feel like I have to stick to who I’ve always been, which is to tell the truth. This experience happened. And I have to tell the truth about it.”

Arulpragasam told the magazine her faith is “new” and she’s still working to understand it. But she was clear about who “saved” her.

“And right now I think the only clear thing I can say is that even when I had no belief in Jesus Christ and Christianity, and even when I was 100 percent comfortable in Hinduism, it was a Christian God that turned up to save me. And I think there is truth in that,” she told Relevant.