Kira Puru has explained the reasoning behind her asking fans not to vote for ‘Idiot’ in this year’s Hottest 100 last week.
Puru asked fans not to vote for the single due to its “ableist terminology”. She instead encouraged fans to vote for other women of colour and non binary people of colour.
“Just a heads up that I’m not campaigning for my song ‘idi*t’ in the h100 this year because of its ableist terminology,” Puru wrote on Instagram.
“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.”
“Lollll thats me. stick me in a stew!” Kira Puru wrote, joining a Reddit thread criticising the move.
“I get it,” she said. “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.
“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 havent made a post about this yet.”
The ‘Molotov’ singer went on to say it was important to see the issue highlighted as a neurodiverse person.
“I get that most people don’t know or don’t agree that its ableist but part of that is because disabled people aren’t 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.”
Puru shared some of her favourites you can vote for, including Miiesha, Tia Gostelow, Odette, Sycco, CLYPSO, Alice Skye, and Tkay Maidza.
