Getting Child-Murdered In An M.I.A. Video May Not Be the Best Career Decision, It Turns Out
And the award for best coverage of red-headed actors who are executed at close range in M.I.A. videos goes to TMZ, who not only tracked down and interviewed the burgeoning Ian Hamrick last week ("he sounds like a 50-year-old philosopher as he explains why he let someone put a gun to his head," the website reported at the time), but now have turned up a second Hamrick-related scoop. Turns out the young actor may have been pulled from the video for Shakira's "Waka Waka," this year's comically titled World Cup Anthem, for the sin of being mock-executed in M.I.A.'s "Born Free" video. 
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"Sources say Shakira's people 86'd his close-ups from her new project over the gruesome scene," reports the never less than reliable news site, undaunted by a producer's retort that Hamrick was always just an extra, and "no extra is featured over another." Instead, according to TMZ, Shakira's team cut footage in reaction to Hamrick's star turn. Why? "Producers don't want World Cup fans thinking about an execution while they're trying to enjoy Shakira."
Right, obviously, because the M.I.A./Shakira/World Cup fan demographic crossover is so broad that you could reasonably expect your average Brazil supporter to be absolutely outraged that a song called "Waka Waka" features in its video a child actor who also appeared in a different video made by a Sri Lankan-British-American pop star depicting the execution of redheaded people. It's not like "Waka Waka" would otherwise make you think of red hair, would it? [TMZ via HRO]
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