Earlier this month Kira Puru took to Instagram to encourage fans not to vote for her latest single, ‘Idiot’, for the triple j Hottest 100 after being called out for ableism.
“hi everyone – just a heads up that I’m not campaigning for my song ‘idi*t’ in the h100 this year because of its ableist terminology,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “As always I appreciate all your love and support, it’s so beautiful, but do me a favour and consider casting your vote in favour of some other very talented local WOC/nboc.”
Kira Puru has since taken to a triple j Reddit thread to clarify her stance on the matter regarding the Hottest 100.
“I get it. The term isn’t offensive to most, even in some disabled communities and I did lots of research prior to putting the song out which made me feel like it was fine obviously,” she wrote. “Some people had an issue with it, came to me with their concerns and I decided to no longer promote the track based on what I learned. I haven’t made a post about this yet.”
Puru continued to highlight that there is a lack of dialogue surrounding neurological disorders and disability in the music scene.
“I’m used to people insinuating that I say this shit for attention or that I’m some narcissistic lefty using controversy to promote my music but I’m neurodiverse myself and it was important to me to respect the opinions of communities I’m part of,” she explained.
“I get that most people don’t know or don’t agree that its ableist but part of that is because disabled people arent really centred in our consciousness, and neurological disorders and disability, in general, isn’t spoken about much, particularly in aus music as far as I’ve noticed.”
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Check out ‘Molotov’ by Kira Puru:
She went on to acknowledge that her statement was not an attempt to bolster her track, rather a way of illuminating her decision not to campaign in this years Hottest 100 countdown.
“As a neurodiverse person it was an important choice for me to make and the post was less about virtue signalling than just letting the people that already follow me know that I wasn’t pushing the track.
“Having made the h100 before, I am well aware this song wasnt ever a contender in the first place.”
During her appearance on AIR’s annual Indie-Con conference, Code of Conduct For The Music Industry back in October, Puru detailed her experience with the “call-out culture” following the release of ‘Idiot’, acknowledging that she’s always receptive of conversations that lead to personal development.
“It’s just the way that I am naturally, to welcome those conversations. I’m not particularly interested in living in an echo chamber where I’m surrounded by people that have the same beliefs as me,” said Puru. “Whenever I’m challenged by something I’ve done or said, I like to at least create a platform for them to bring that conversation to the table.”
Check out ‘Why Don’t We Get Along’:
