“The NFL thing is completely ridiculous.”

“It’s been making me laugh for a while, but now it’s so boring I don’t even laugh anymore. So the precise moment in question, and you can actually freeze-frame this as many media outlets have. The frame you’re looking for has my middle finger in the foreground, and the larger picture where it zooms out is a row of 10-15 cheerleaders, young black females, that Madonna got from a local high school in Indianapolis, and they were all under 16. If you look at them, they’re all wearing cheerleader outfits, hips thrusted in the air, legs wide open, in this very sexually provocative position. So, now, they’ve scapegoated me into figuring out the goalposts of what is offensive in America.

“Is my finger offensive, or is the underage black girl with her legs wide open more offensive to the family audience? That’s basically what it comes down to: a massive waste of time, a massive waste of money, it’s a massive display of powerful corporation dick-shaking, they want me on my knees and say sorry so they can slap me on my wrist. Basically, so they can say it’s OK for me to promote being sexually exploited as a female than to display female empowerment through being punk rock. That’s what it boils down to, and I’m being sued for it.”

– M.I.A, speaking on the NFL’s decision to bring legal proceedings against her for flipping the bird during her cameo in Madonna’s 2012 Superbowl show.

Although neither NBC nor broadcast regulator FCC chose to take any punitive action, the singer faces a $1.5m fine for the “offensive gesture” from the football league itself. The case – which has been ticking over for the last year – has yet to reach a conclusion. You can watch M.I.A’s cri de coeur below. [via Consequence Of Sound]