M.I.A.'s Middle Finger Crashes Madonna's Super Bowl Set
Rapper and signer M.I.A.'s flipped middle finger, a fleeting gesture in an otherwise tightly choreographed performance, drew away some of the spotlight from Madonna's first ever Super Bowl performance on Sunday.
The brief incident came about three quarters of the way through Madonna's elaborate, 12-minute performance at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis featuring four of her hits, snippets of others, and hundreds of extras.
The song "Give Me All Your Luvin" was presented with the three main singers, Madonna, Nicky Minaj, and M.I.A., donning cheerleader pompoms and outfits. After Minaj's rap, M.I.A., performed her lyrics, ending with what appeared to be a slightly muffled expletive and the middle finger.
"I'mma say this once, yeah, I don't give a s---."
Otherwise the performance went off with nary a hitch, except at one point where Madonna seemed to lose her balance slightly but quickly recovered.
The performance began with the pop queen dressed in what appeared to be a mix of Egyptian and Roman military and royal garb.
She entered the field led by a phalanx of bare-chested muscle-men dressed as warriors.
The performance included other Madonna hits "Vogue," and "Music." Singer Cee Lo Green appeared during the last song of the set, in the gospel-tinged, choir-backed "Like a Prayer."
The entire performance:
M.I.A.'s gesture
