Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift, along with Selena Gomez and Katy Perry, at the 2011 American Music Awards (photo credit: Billboard)
The announcement of the MTV Video Music Award nominations this morning came with three nods for Nicki Minaj. However, the singer believes she was snubbed for Best Collaboration, Best Choreography and Video of the Year.
Minaj took to Twitter to first express her gratitude to MTV, then question the exclusion of her duet with Beyonce, “Feeling Myself”, from the nominations list.
Hey guys @MTV thank you for my nominations. Did Feeling Myself miss the deadline or…?
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
The “Anaconda” singer went on to defend her record breaking video for the racy song, stating, “If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well.” She then tweeted examples to prove the popularity of the choreography for the video, mentioning Ellen DeGeneres’ rendition and MTV’s own post.
U couldn’t go on social media w/o seeing ppl doing the cover art, choreo, outfits for Halloween…an impact like that & no VOTY nomination? — NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
Several minutes later, Minaj tweeted a follow up to her previous posts.
When the “other” girls drop a video that breaks records and impacts culture they get that nomination. — NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
Billboard reports Minaj has to be referring to Taylor Swift, whose “Bad Blood” music video is nominated for both awards, along with five other nods, and is “the only other record-breaking video from a woman nominated for video of the year.”
Swift replied via Twitter.
@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
Despite the accusations, Minaj tweeted to Swift asking the singer to speak about “this”, referring to her own tweets about nominations celebrating “women with very slim bodies” and the lack of acknowledgment of black women’s influence on pop culture.
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
“Anaconda” is nominated for Best Female Video against Swift, and Best Hip-Hop Video. Minaj is nominated for Best Collaboration, although it is for her song “Bang Bang” along with Jessie J and Ariana Grande.
Shortly after the singer took to Twitter, “Anaconda” and “Nicki and Taylor” became top trends on Twitter.
MTV has yet to comment.
The awards are set to air August 30 on MTV and will be hosted by Miley Cyrus.