Music and the Super Bowl has been a hot topic this week despite the fact that the NFL season hasn't started yet. Although the primary concern has been the NFL's desire for musicians to pay for the right to perform at the big game, The Hollywood Reporter now indicates that the league has settled out of court with M.I.A. regarding her flashing of the middle finger during her performance with Madonna at the game during 2012.
The exact sum that the hip-popper will have to cough up is being kept private as part of the agreement, but needless to say it will be less than what the league was charging. Immediately following the event—where the performer was less subtle than Johnny Manziel with her hand's intentions—the NFL fined her $1.5 million, citing a pre-show agreement. Things got out of control earlier this year when the league upped the fine to $16.6 million, the amount the NFL valued the attention she received as part of performing.
M.I.A. acted like an idiot but we're not sure she was a $16.6 million idiot...it's not like she set Lucas Oil Stadium on fire. What's more interesting however is how this ties into the current hot story on how much the NFL is looking to milk out of its potential Super Bowl halftime show performers. The company values the attention M.I.A. got to be $16.6 million...will this be near the total the league is looking to bring in from potential acts such as Rihanna, Katy Perry or Coldplay?
Tough to tell. M.I.A. wasn't the headliner, so if Madonna had given the bird, there's a chance they would argue she got even more attention and therefore owed even more cash accordingly.
The only moral we can take from this is that if you choose to do business with the NFL, don't screw around.
