Nicki Minaj has addressed her run-in with Miley Cyrus at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards, accusing her of having “big balls” in trying to take her down for raising an important issue about black women.
Cyrus made a number of disparaging comments about Minaj days before hosting the award ceremony, resulting in Minaj’s famous “Miley, what’s good?” quip that stole the show - and became so popular it inspired a range of products on Etsy.
In an interview with the New York Times - the same paper Cyrus had made the comments that ignited the whole thing - Minaj expands on why she put Cyrus on the spot, accusing her of wanting “the good without the bad” by appropriating specific parts of black culture.
Addressing Cyrus, she says: “The fact that you feel upset about me speaking on something that affects black women makes me feel like you have some big balls.
“You’re in videos with black men, and you’re bringing out black women on your stages, but you don’t want to know how black women feel about something that’s so important? Come on, you can’t want the good without the bad.
“If you want to enjoy our culture and our lifestyle, bond with us, dance with us, have fun with us, twerk with us, rap with us, then you should also want to know what affects us, what is bothering us, what we feel is unfair to us. You shouldn’t not want to know that,” she says.
Cyrus had questioned Minaj’s intentions in her recent controversy with Taylor Swift.
“It’s not anger like, ‘Guys, I’m frustrated about some things that are a bigger issue.’ You made it about you. Not to sound like a bitch, but that’s like, ‘Eh, I didn’t get my VMA," Cyrus said.
She continued: “If you want to make it about race, there’s a way you could do that. But don’t make it just about yourself."
Elsewhere in the profile, Minaj discusses her partner Meek Mill’s ongoing feud with Drake and her surprisingly timid early days trying to make a name for herself.
But the interview comes to an abrupt end when the writer suggests Minaj “thrives on drama”. The rapper accuses her of a “premeditated” attempt to make her look “stupid” and asks her to leave.
“I don’t care to speak to you any more,” she says firmly.
