Taylor Swift & Nicki Minaj get into Twitter spat over VMA nominations

Oh dear. The MTV Video Music Award 2015 nominations are out, and they’ve sent the celebrity world into the Twitter equivalent of World War Three.

At the centre of it all is Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift, who’ve had a bit of a disagreement about their respective nominations.

It all started late last night as Nicki Minaj began to vent her frustration that her video for Anaconda – which broke the Vevo record for most views in 24 hours upon its release last year – hadn’t been nominated for Video of the Year, despite being nominated for Best Female video and Best Hip-Hop video. The rapper put the video’s lack of recognition down to racism within the music industry itself.

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

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

The remarks were quickly spotted by Swift, whose Bad Blood video – which subsequently broke Anaconda‘s Vevo record on its release back in May – is up for Video of the Year. The 25-year-old tweeted Minaj saying she’d done”nothing but love and support you”, and accused her of pitting female artists against each other.

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/623616796277506048

Minaj didn’t take kindly to the response, saying she was “confused” about why Swift was getting involved when “didn’t say a word” about her.

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

https://twitter.com/NICKIMINAJ/status/623620291478974464

Seemingly keen to clear up any bad blood between the pair, Swift invited Minaj to come up on stage with her should she win the gong during the August 30 award show.

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/623628086614036480

But it didn’t end there. After US talk show host and presenter Ryan Seacrest covered the exchange by accusing Minaj of making a “jab” at Taylor, the 32-year-old kicked off once again.

Ryan posted a headline of Taylor saying she loves & supports me. But not me saying the same to her. Lol. Their headline says I took a "jab"?

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015

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

Kim Kardashian also managed to get caught up in the row after an ill-timed tweet soon after the exchange. The reality star shared a picture of herself with the caption “Imma let you finish” – the same words her husband Kanye West told Swift during his infamous stage invasion at the VMAs in 2009 while she was collecting an award.

After users accused her of throwing shade, Kim was quick to plead ignorance.

Wait wait I'm in Paris it's the middle of the night & I'm posting my Vogue Spain pics not having a clue what's going on in the music world

— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) July 21, 2015

I'm not trying to shade anyone! That's not my style! I just thought that caption was perfect for that pic! Changing the caption now! #ironic

— Kim Kardashian (@KimKardashian) July 21, 2015

Others were quick to poke fun at the spat, with Bruno Mars tweeting that he “wanted in on this Twitter beef”, before telling Ed Sheeran, “Fuck you”, and starting a tongue-in-cheek exchange between the pair.

Yo I want in on this twitter Beef!! VMAs is the new WWF!! @edsheeran Fuck You!

— Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars) July 22, 2015

https://twitter.com/edsheeran/status/623724741409509376

That Cut deep..U always know how to sheer me to the core. I can't believe we're Sheeran this in public. How dare u! https://t.co/fdYOVnlScF

— Bruno Mars (@BrunoMars) July 22, 2015

Sadly it seems that for Minaj, the whole incident is no joke. She’s spent the last few hours re-tweeting Taylor criticism from her fans. Ouch.

The MTV VMAs are set to take place on August 30, and will be hosted this year by Miley Cyrus. Safe to say that after all this, having this lot in the same room is gonna make it a show not to miss.

In This Article: