M.I.A. Gets Into Twitter War With Anderson Cooper Over Coverage of Sri Lanka

The world of popular music has a surprising new beef: M.I.A., the colorful British rapper of Sri Lankan descent, went after CNN newsman Anderson Cooper on Twitter for allegedly calling her a terrorist, but he fired back, saying he said no such thing.

Some of the tweets have since been deleted, but NME documented the conversation as it occurred yesterday. The drama began when a British station aired a new documentary about the Sri Lankan civil war, which ended in 2009 when the government defeated the Tamil Tigers liberation group. After the broadcast, M.I.A. began tweeting to call attention to what she feels are human rights abuses by the government against the Tamil people.

She specifically called out the newscaster, writing, "Anderson Cooper called me a terrorist for speaking out, and expressed support for the SLgov [Sri Lankan government] when this [killing] was happening. Someone should make @AndersonCooper watch it / film it and show the world what happens when respected journos get it wrong #killingfields."

Cooper, though, seemed dumbfounded, tweeting back, "What are you talking about?... You are mistaken. I never called you a terrorist. I don't even know who you are other than the lady who sang at the Superbowl."