Nominees for the annual MTV Video Music Awards were announced on Apple Music’s Beats 1 Radio today, and noticeably missing from the “Video of the Year” category was Nicki Minaj’s feminist-as-fuck summer anthem “Anaconda.” Shortly after the nominations were posted, Minaj tweeted the following:
If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year ?????????????
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
As it is wont to do, all of Twitter exploded with speculation about Minaj’s hidden meaning – including Video of the Year nominee Taylor Swift:
@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
@NICKIMINAJ If I win, please come up with me!! You're invited to any stage I'm ever on.
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 21, 2015
Unfortunately it seems a lot of Twitter, including Swift, missed her point. And it didn’t take long for the (predominately white) entertainment media to jump onboard:
EDIT: Both Entertainment Weekly and Ryan Seacrest have now deleted the above tweets, and Entertainment Weekly issued an apology.
Minaj won’t sit idly by and let people drown out her very legitimate point. She, along with many others, responded to both Swift and the media:
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
They're not missing the point, they're just attempting to overshadow the point. Oldest trick in the book. https://t.co/Y4dt1vKk6C
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
Nothing I said had to do with Taylor. So what jabs? White media and their tactics. So sad. That's what they want. https://t.co/AfcwoyDvpg
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015
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
Dear @EW: Let's reverse the imagery & not uphold the #angryblackwoman stereotype. pic.twitter.com/INNPP4Az90
— Janet Mock (@janetmock) July 21, 2015
Glad @NICKIMINAJ spoke up. It's sad @taylorswift13 didn't engage with the reality that racism is a factor in some women's lives.
— Mikki Kendall (@Karnythia) July 21, 2015
I unabashedly love both Swift and Minaj’s music, and have been cautiously optimistic about Swift’s baby-steps toward feminism as of late. But she clearly has a lot to learn when it comes to intersectional feminism. For too long, “Support All Women” has been a battle cry for #WhiteFeminists being called on their privilege. As Maisha Z. Johnson wrote last month:
Sometimes, being “in this” with mainstream feminist campaigns actually means supporting harmful institutions.
For instance, pro-choice campaigns have worthy goals of increasing access to abortion care. But Margaret Sanger, called the founder of the birth control movement, also advocated for eugenics, a racist ideology focused on wiping out people of color.
Many leading pro-choice advocates won’t acknowledge this awful history or address the impact it still has today – like forced sterilization of Black women. Instead, they’ve lead a movement that hurts many of the people relying on reproductive justice.
“Unity” has too long been an excuse for white women to silence women of color. You don’t get to put on blackness like a costume and then throw black women under the bus. And you certainly don’t get to put on your best Miss Millie impersonation when they inevitably call you on your shit.
Was Nicki calling out Taylor Swift? She says no, and even if she was I couldn’t blame her for backtracking. After all:
last person to point out Taylor's work pales in comparison 2 black contemporaries spent an entire chapter of their career publically atoning
— Ayesha A. Siddiqi (@pushinghoops) July 21, 2015
Taylor, instead of taking things personally, why not use your enormous influence to support Minaj’s incredibly valid point? If you’re such a fan of backing fellow women up, why not do so?
Oh right. #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen.
Featured Image by Jennifer.