April 30, 2010 16:30

Child 'killed' in MIA's 'Born Free' video defends singer

'She was trying to show violence to end violence' says child actor

Photo Gallery: MIA
Photo: Pamela Littky

The 12 year-old child who appears in MIA's 'Born Free' video has defended the controversial clip, which was recently removed from YouTube due to its graphic content.

Directed by Romain Gavras, the promo features nudity, graphic violence and a plot where ginger adolescents are rounded up into an armour-protected van, driven to the country and either shot or made to run through a minefield. Watch it by clicking below.

Hamrick, whose character in the film dies after being shot in the head, defended MIA, saying she was trying to highlight violence in order to end it.

"I think she was trying to show violence to end violence," he told Tmz.com.

He added: "The video is definitely not for kids – I haven't even seen the full video myself – but for all the adults and people in different countries who are doing that in real life... doing the genocides to whatever: Italians, Africans, wherever it's from, it's still genocide. So it's showing violence to end violence."

He explained that he was aware of the content of the video's plot before he agreed to appear in it. He also said that "MIA was a sweetheart".