Little Mix fans have been left stunned after US rapper Nicki Minaj steamed into the Jesy Nelson blackfishing row and branded her former bandmate Leigh-Anne Pinnock a 'jealous clown.
The ongoing saga sparked by allegations towards Jesy, 30, in her debut solo 'Boyz' has continued to escalate with international megastar now weighing in to defend her new co-collaborator.
Minaj's stern words came amid reports that Nelson's former bandmate, Leigh-Anne, had previously warned Jesy that her actions could be deemed as cultural appropriation.
Speaking to The Sun, a source said: "Leigh-Anne had a conversation with Jesy, trying to explain why she was upset and why it could be offensive.
"She felt she had to address it while making her racism documentary, but it apparently fell on deaf ears."
Since then the situation has only got more explosive.
Nicki Minaj livestream
In a joint Instagram Live stream with Nelson on Monday, Minaj, 38, called Jesy's former bandmate Pinnock "a big jealous bozo", in reference to a series of leaked messages allegedly received by influencer @NoHun, believed to have been sent by Pinnock.
In the messages, Pinnock appears to say: "Do a video about her [Nelson] blackfishing instead.
"She blocked us. Cut us off. Horrible person."
The messages have not been verified at the time of writing.
Towards the end of live stream, which lasted around an hour, Minaj said: "Take them text messages and shove it up your f***ing a**, because when you do clown s**t I got to treat you and talk to you like you a clown."
"Stop trying to hurt people and kill people’s lives and careers, this is the way people feed their families. Stop – if you want a solo career, baby girl, just say that."
Minaj also released a number of tweets relating to the matter. She said: "When ppl can’t get money with you they always try to stop your bag. Well only the corny ones."
"Don’t call things out when they benefit your personal vendetta to ppl. Call them out immediately once you see it chile. Don’t wait a decade after you’ve made millions with the person."
Pinnock, a recent mother of twins, is yet to respond. Nelson is also yet to speak out since the stream, apart from to share promotional material for her new song, which features P Diddy.
During the live stream, Nelson apologised for offence caused by her new music video. She said: "I personally want to say that my intention was never, ever to offend people of colour with this video and my song because like I said, growing up as a young girl, this is the music that I listened to".
Twitter reacts
Despite Minaj's explosive words, many people on Twitter have flocked to the side of Pinnock.
"I can see why Leigh Anne doesn’t talk to jesy anymore bc imagine getting racist abuse throughout your career only for your bandmate to put on biracial aesthetics for fun," said one.
Another wrote: "Leigh has been suffering SO FREAKING MUCH bc of the racism that JESY NEVER FACED ONCE IN HER LIFE."
