Music
22 Jul 15

Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj in VMA Twitter spat

The 'Anaconda' star railed against her nomination snub...and then things escalated

If a week is a long time in politics, then one night is a lifetime on Twitter.
Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift became embroiled in a right to-do last night, when the 'Anaconda' singer took to Twitter to vent her frustration at being snubbed in the Best Video and Best Choreography categories at this year's MTV VMAs.

If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year ?????????????

— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015

It didn't seem unreasonable to think this was a pop at Swift, whose 'Bad Blood' clip, which has broken an obscene amount of records since its release earlier this year, was nominated for an award.
Certainly, Swift felt this way.

@NICKIMINAJ I've done nothing but love & support you. It's unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 21, 2015

Minaj says her tweet was nothing to do with Swift, before widening her scopel, complaining of racism within the music industry and the press at large.

I'm not always confident. Just tired. Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it. https://t.co/2xOvJzBXJX

— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015

Some users claimed that the nomination of Beyonce in both categories - as well as nods for black male artists Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus - disproved her argument, but Minaj was having none of it - even bringing the ill-fated Tidal into the discussion.

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

At one - genuinely hilarious - point, Kim Kardashian tweeted a photo of herself with a caption saying "Imma let you finish"; husband Kanye's famous opening line when stealing T-Swift's VMA spotlight in 2009. She quickly changed the caption, insisting that she didn't know what was going on (which we're actually inclined to believe, all things considered) and that she "wasn't trying to shade anyone" (also, since when is 'shading' a thing?)
But at least Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran were on hand to bring a little levity to proceedings... or start everything all over again.