MIA’s ginger boy cut from Shakira World Cup video

The ginger-haired boy actor depicted being shot dead in a controversial music video by MIA has now been chopped from the video for Shakira's official World Cup song, Waka Waka.

Entertainment website TMZ claims that before last week's controversy over British-Tamil singer MIA's "ginger genocide" video, Born Free, red-head Ian Hamrick had been "slated for a for a feature role" in Shakira's new video. However, he will not now appear in close-up scenes in Waka Waka.

MIA's video (above), in which ginger-haired people are rounded up before being massacred, was an attempt to draw parallels with the sufferings of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority at the hands of the government.

One scene features a close-up of Hamrick being executed with a gun at point-blank range. Internet video site YouTube gave Born Free an 18 rating after receiving complaints from users.

Shakira herself is not averse to making political statements. Only last week, the Latina pop singer was in the US state of Arizona to protest a draconian new law aimed at illegal Mexican immigrants.

However, the decision to cut Hamrick from Waka Waka is thought more likely to have come from World Cup organisers than from Shakira. The corporate-sponsored, family friendly tournament is unlikely to take kindly to any link between its official song and a violent video connected to allegations of genocide laid against a democratically elected government.

Eagle-eyed Shakira fans can still see Hamrick in the video of Waka Waka - in a crowd shot. Meanwhile, the flame-haired boy star must be beating off the job offers in the wake of his new-found notoriety for a video his parents never even expected to be seen in the United States. ·