Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Responds to Hip Hop Star M.I.A. on PBS's 'Tavis Smiley'

Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Responds to Hip Hop Star M.I.A. on PBS's 'Tavis Smiley'

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Sri Lanka's Foreign Secretary, Dr. Palitha Kohona, responded to comments made about the civil war in Sri Lanka by Oscar and Grammy-nominated hip hop artist, M.I.A. on tonight's edition of "Tavis Smiley" on PBS.

In an exclusive interview, Dr. Kohona took issue with the comments made by M.I.A. on "Tavis Smiley" three weeks ago, which were repeated in a New York Times article on February 11 (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/11/world/asia/11mia.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=Tavis%2 0Smiley,%20sri%20lanka&st=cse).

"M.I.A. is a great artist and we wish her well," said Dr. Kohona. "But, sorry, I think she is misinformed and it's best that she stays with what she's good at, which is music. Not politics."

Clip from interview: http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/video/share.html?s=tavi08s1fb9q75e

On the Jan. 28th edition of "Tavis Smiley" M.I.A., a member of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority, accused the Sri Lankan government of "systematic genocide."

Source: Tavis Smiley

CONTACT: Lai Ling Jew, of Fenton Communications, +1-212-584-5000, ext.
316, or ljew@fenton.com; or Cathy Williams, of KCET, +1-323-953-5243, or
cwilliams@kcet.org

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