M.I.A. Denies Claims That She Supports the LTTE Terrorist Group

M.I.A has finally responded by denying the accusations outright made by a fellow rapper, DeLeon for supporting terrorist group, the LTTE.

http://chandima-gunadasa.blogspot.com/2008/08/youtube-has-blocked-delons-video.html

Sri Lankan hip-hop artist DeLon had posted a new track and accompanying video, remixing M.I.A.'s single "Paper Planes," in which the DeLeon claims she uses images from the Liberation Tiger Tamils of Eelam (LTTE), a Sri Lankan terrorist group banned around the world for it's terrorist acts (US, UK, EU, India etc).

DeLon openly questions M.I.A.'s whether she supports terrorists, noting that she consistently uses tigers in imagery -- on clothes, in videos -- and that she has called her father a "freedom fighter," despite the fact he has been credited as a co-founder of a militant pro-Tamil group called EROS, which, in turn, was once linked to the Tamil Tigers.

M.I.A., denies claims like she has in the past that she's ever supported any terrorist group, and calls DeLon's attempts at destroying her credibility shameless "self-promotion."

"I don't support terrorism and never have," the British rapper of Sri Lankan descent recently wrote in a statement. "As a Sri Lankan that fled war and bombings, my music is the voice of the civilian refugee. Frankly, I am not trying to start dialogue with someone who is really just seeking self-promotion."

Since the release of DeLon's video, M.I.A.'s label, Interscope Records, had served the rapper with a cease-and-desist, claiming the video endangers "M.I.A.'s reputation as a freedom fighter."

In response, DeLon and his label filed a lawsuit against Interscope/UMG for infringement of his First Amendment rights.