The nominations for the MTV Video Awards were announced Tuesday, and after receiving only a handful of chances to win, Nicki Minaj took to Twitter and declared her dismay—though she probably didn’t expect Taylor Swift to fire back at her so intently.
While “Anaconda” was nominated for the best hip-hop video and the best female video, it was not nominated for video of the year, which will be won either by Swift, Beyoncé, Ed Sheeran, Mark Ronson, or Kendrick Lamar.
The fact she was left out did not make Minaj happy.
If I was a different "kind" of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well. 😊😊😊
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
When the "other" girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination. 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year 😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊😊
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
Swift apparently felt that Minaj’s tweets were directed at her and confronted Minaj about it.
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/623616796277506048
OK, let Minaj respond to that, because apparently, she took Swift’s tweet personally:
Huh? U must not be reading my tweets. Didn't say a word about u. I love u just as much. But u should speak on this. @taylorswift13
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
I'm so glad u guys get to see how this stuff works. Taylor took her music off spotify and was applauded. We launched Tidal & were dragged.
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
Minaj also retweeted this one.
— AsiaKARA (@MysticSTARs33D) July 21, 2015
Does any of this stuff really matter? Most of us would agree that, in regards to award-show trophies, the answer is no.
It’s probably all just a misunderstanding that, even though Minaj was making a valid point, Swift thought she was being singled out by somebody she perhaps considers a friend. And now, it’s all playing out across our timelines.
Luckily, Vox.com breaks down the relevance of this bickering: “The Swift kerfuffle distracts from Minaj’s larger point, which is that the artistic achievements of black people — particularly black women — are frequently co-opted and commodified by white culture, which is then celebrated for being edgy or groundbreaking. When you view Minaj’s tweets in this context, it seems much more likely that she simply wasn’t even thinking about Swift when she wrote her tweets … This is not to say that Swift is wrong, per se — indeed, both her point and Minaj’s are hugely valid. But Swift’s point utterly misses the larger discussion Minaj was trying to kick off.”
But what’s really important is that I have two questions that, thus far, have gone unanswered.
1) Why didn’t Swift take this perfect opportunity to do her Kanye West impression, since their infamous interaction actually happened at the VMAs?
In my opinion, it’s a missed opportunity for Swift to pull out what would have been perhaps the greatest tweet in history.
2) People still make music videos? And why are there are still award shows that celebrate said videos on a network that never plays them?
Either way, Swift has an easy solution to this whole mess. She and Minaj can reunite on the VMA stage to celebrate a Swift victory.
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/623628086614036480
Update 5:57pm CT, July 23: Taylor Swift has responded to Nicki Minaj, and apologized.
https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/624240681750536192
That means so much Taylor, thank you. @taylorswift13 ❤️❤️❤️
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 23, 2015
I've always loved her. Everyone makes mistakes. She gained so much more respect from me. Let's move on. https://t.co/mx9pfIdnzT
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 23, 2015
Photo via Republic Records/YouTube