5/29/2006

Alexander Rogers

Immigration officials can't keep illegals from crossing the border, but they can keep a politically-incorrect rapper from entering legally. Good work, guys!

It seems the boys over at Immigration just don't move to the hip-hop groove of Brit rapper MIA. The artist, also known as Maya Arulpragasam (Thank God she changed it. Good luck rhyming "Arulpragasam" with anything.), has been denied a visa by the American Embassy in London. MIA, born in Sri Lanka, apparently came under fire for spouting some positive commentary about the Tamil Tigers, a rebel group in her native Sri Lanka. The Tigers, dubbed a terrorist organization by much of the world, including the U.S. has been in a fierce struggle with the Sri Lankan government and has utilized suicide tactics that have killed thousands of civilians as well as military personnel.  
  
This is only the latest bout of trouble for Miss MIA, who has seen her star soar only to be plunged into an ocean of controversy. Her international album, Arular, was a huge smash in this country, but MTV later banned her single, "Sunflower," for reported references to suicide bombers. Now she is apparently banned from entering the country. Of course, this upsets her original plans of recording an album with her boyfriend and fellow artist, Wes Diplo, but she has since indicated on her website that she plans to continue work on the album outside the country.  
  
Personally, I wouldn't mind having MIA in this country. We could even make it a trade. We'd take MIA off of Britain's hands and they take 50 Cent off of ours.