Is There Bad Blood Between Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj?
We never thought we'd see the day where Taylor Swift actively participates in a possible Twitter feud, but here we are.
Nicki Minaj did not mince words earlier today (July 21) when she expressed her immense disappointment over being snubbed in numerous categories following the reveal of the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards nominations. She called out the network via a series of tweets, arguing that her video for "Anaconda" made as much of a cultural impact as others that garnered more nominations, and if she were a "different 'kind' of artist," she would've been honored with a nomination for Video of the Year.
Meanwhile, in a totally unorthodox move, Taylor Swift directly responded to Nicki's tweets, even though Nicki didn't actually mention Taylor by name.
Missing the point of Nicki's spiel entirely, Taylor used this as another way to promote her specific brand of feminism-lite, claiming Nicki's sole issue with MTV is women-based, and not race-based. Nicki responded to this, writing:
To which Taylor responded with the following:
Yikes.
Here's the thing: Nicki's issue here is not with Taylor. It's with the way white women are celebrated before women of color even have a chance to prove their case in the media. No, Taylor is not explicitly mentioned, but yes, Nicki's probably using her as an example to back her point.
And we get where she's coming from. Quite a few of the nominations for this year's awards show were straight up baffling. "Anaconda" was a hugely celebrated song and video upon its release. So was her collaboration with Beyonce for the fantastic self-celebratory "Feeling Myself." Immediately, there were parodies, think pieces, discussions on both videos' messages of body positivity, of displaying confidence. It does seem strange that the sole nominations for "Anaconda" are for Best Hip-Hop Video and Best Female Performance. The video itself broke the Vevo record for most views in 24 hours, and held onto it for a full nine months, until it was ultimately kicked out of the top spot by (you guessed it!) Taylor's "Bad Blood." We're not exactly sure why "Anaconda" wouldn't earn a nomination for Video of the Year.
And that isn't to say that Taylor doesn't deserve a nomination, too. "Bad Blood" is a strong video, backed by a relentless campaign and Taylor works incredibly hard as an artist. But, again, Nicki is speaking to a larger issue, beyond the VMAs, she's just using the nominations as a starting point.
Whoever ends up winning Video of the Year, don't worry, Nicki'll be up onstage to help you collect the award.
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