Pop provocateur M.I.A, who recently released the controversial video for her single “Born Free,” is currently making headlines for sharing the phone number of a New York Times staff member via her Twitter page. More on this after the jump.
M.I.A.’s tweet, which came in response to recent NYT profile piece written by Lynn Hirschberg that follows the creation and promotion of M.I.A.’s new album /\/\ /\ Y /\, contained the writer’s phone number and a message indicating that the number actually belonged to M.I.A. The message read as follows:
“[Phone number removed] CALL ME IF YOU WANNA TALK TO ME ABOUT THE N Y T TRUTH ISSUE, ill b taking calls all day bitches ; )”
The “NYT truth issue” that M.I.A. refers to in the tweet is in reference to the recently published Times profile, which contains unkind quotes from some of artist’s closest confidants, including Romain Gavras, the director of “Born Free.”
M.I.A. followed up on the incendiary tweet with another, less controversial message:
“NEWS IS AN OPINION! UNEDITED VERSION OF THE INTERVIEW WILL BE ON neetrecordings THIS MEMORIAL WEEKEND!!! >>>>”
Despite all the noise coming from the M.I.A. camp, Times staffer Lynn Hirschberg has not remained silent about the issue. She recently wrote up a response to the artist’s actions in the New York Observer, saying that M.I.A. is “a provocateur, and provocateurs want to be provocative.”
Hirschberg added that most of the callers were looking to meet with M.I.A., not to make threats about the NYT piece.
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