One of the big moments at MTV’s Video Music Awards last night 9August 13, 2015) was Nicki Minaj‘s acceptance speech for the “Best Hip Hop Video” award that ended with Minaj taking a swat a show host Miley Cyrus.
Minaj was responding to derogatory comments Cyrus had made about her in a NY Times interviews in which she referred to Minaj’s approach as “not too kind” and “not very polite.”
Following the event, there was rampant speculation Minaj’s clapback was staged. Since the event, MTV has confirmed with several sources including E! News that the moment wasn’t planned. In video that has surfaced of Miley reacting in the moment to Minaj’s read, she does appear stunned upon hearing Minaj drop the b-word.
When MTV cuts Minaj’s mic and pans back to Miley, she backpedals on her comments, implying she was misquoted by the Times. Moments later when speaking about an “Artist to Watch Award,” she regains her footing and takes a stab at Minaj by describing the category as one she herself lost in 2008, but it didn’t matter, she shouted turning in Minaj’s direction, “Because it’s no big deal! It’s just an award and I persevered!!” and finishes by deadpanning, “Congratulations Nicki.”
This is the thing, even if the event wasn’t staged by MTV in cahoots with the two singers, it seems like Minaj herself planned to take on Cyrus for her comments, as foreshadowed by her boyfriend Meek Mill who published a photograph on Instagram with the caption, “Only came to see shawty… And to do some checking lol.”
As a top-of-the-chart rap and pop artist, it’s a minimum requirement that Minaj be skilled at creating controversy that helps build her profile. Yes, there will be those who look askance at her approach last night, but she probably calculated that many more would appreciate her calling out Cyrus, who has come under fire as of late for being too heavy handed when borrowing from creative communities whose members are mostly minorities. Whatever the calculation was, it’s hard to knock Minaj’s willingness to say it to Cyrus’s face, an approach that thanks to social media is far too rare these day.
