Tweet war between MIA and Cooper on Lanka
Outspoken hip-hop star M.I.A. and CNN newsman Anderson Cooper have settled their differences following a war of words via Twitter.com on Wednesday (14Mar12) over Sri Lanka’s secret war with the Tamil Tigers.
The Paper Planes hitmaker, whose father Arul Pragasam is a leading Tamil activist, has always been vocal about the plight of her people in Sri Lanka, accusing the nation’s government officials of engaging in systematic genocide.
A new British documentary chronicling the ongoing secret war and the execution of Tamil leaders and their families, which aired on Wednesday (14Mar12) in the U.K., left her calling for action and taking aim at Cooper who she claimed had misrepresented her on his news show 360.
In a series of tweets, she wrote, “Anderson Cooper called me a terrorist for speaking out, and expressed support for the SLgov (Sri Lankan government) when this (killing) was happening… thought AC (Anderson Cooper) was a fair news reporter till (sic) SL killings took place and he kept his silent! (sic) Disappointed!”
She added, “Someone should make Anderson Cooper watch it/film it and show the world what happens when respected journos (journalists) get it wrong.
“You called me a lady Tamil Tiger when I talked about Tamil civilians dying, and u (sic) printed a retraction… in 2009 u linked to a articl (article) that was written about me with false info. There was a rebuttal on ur (your) 360 site… 2 months later 1ce (once) every Tamil had been silenced including me, the Slgov carried out the killing of 40,000 civilians.”
Her rant prompted Cooper to respond via his personal Twitter account. He wrote, “You are mistaken. I never called you a terrorist. I don’t even know who you are other than the lady who sang at Superbowl… You’ve gone from saying ‘I wrote’, ‘I called you,’ to saying my Cnn show blog had a link to an article. Big difference… we link to many articles with different viewpoints, and we gave you an opportunity to respond.”
He added, “I can understand your frustration if someone wrote untrue things about you, and I’m glad you were able to respond… and the brutal war in SL has not gotten enough coverage in the US, and I know that (sic) very upsetting.”
The Twitter war of words ended with M.I.A. urging Cooper to watch the new Channel 4 documentary, Killing Fields: “Anderson c
Cooper I’m glad u understand but please watch Killing Fields because this is what I was trying to say.” (Courtesy Contactmusic)
