We can all agree that MTV is flashy dogshit, but one of its last remaining pillars of interest – the Video Music Awards – is sparking new controversy after the nominations were announced earlier this week.
On Tuesday, Apple Music’s biggest pain in the ass Taylor Swift took a Twitter swipe at rapper Nicki Minaj, and the whole thing burst into a passive-aggressive exchange about race and gender, with obligatory backpedaling in the end.
It started when Minaj let off some steam after “Anaconda” wasn’t nominated for Video of the Year for the MTV Video Music Awards, despite its massive success (nearly 500 million views to date). The clip was a salacious over-embrace of black-woman culture portrayals in the media, and was the talk of the internets for a long…. hell, we’re still talking about it.
So, Minaj felt snubbed, and with good reason.
“If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well,” she said in a tweet. “Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it.”
Taylor Swift Called Out Apple Music, and They Listened
She then tweeted: “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.”
The Pinterest signal must’ve hit the sky at this point, because who should come sweeping through on a flying carpet wearing a 50’s polka-dot bikini but Taylor Swift, who took Nicki’s comments as a direct slight against her (and, we imagine, that silly-ass “Bad Blood” video – which was nominated for Video of The Year and featured a ton of anorexia-bait):
But then Nicki responded…
Had enough? Yeah, let’s pump the brakes, because there’s more than meets the eye to this silly nonsense.
Of the two femme-forward superstars, one of them is primarily known for dating a kaleidoscope of celebrity boys and writing songs about it under the guise of feminism, while the other does everything but shove a GoPro up her ass to keep our focus on the rump. Need evidence? Here’s the video she’s pissed didn’t make the cut.
The entire video consists of clapping asses, every female present apparently desperate to rub their asshole on anything that comes within reach. Sure, it’s a high-minded subversive takedown of misogynistic video tropes and patriarchal domination. Suuuuure. Or maybe it’s a video featuring hot girls shaking their asses because that’s the barrel-bottom obvious shit pop-culture hounds want to see.
But we’ve seen enough of these videos, no?
Whatever the case, Swift’s assumption that any woman would feel grateful to be able to stand at her side while she “Oh my God”s her way through yet another acceptance speech is retarded. What’s more demoralizing: not being nominated, or holding the winner’s purse while everyone stares at you, wondering why the hell you’re there?
Minaj has a point. Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud” video is the most boring shit ever, and it was nominated for the top VMA this year. Same with that inescapable Bruno Mars/Mark Ronson mess that’s got your little sister singing “Uptown fuck you up, uptown fuck you up” and acting like she’s saying “funk”. That one was also nominated, with better reason and cultural impact than Sheeran’s utterly forgettable saccharine glow. But “Anaconda” was far more deserving than both. And the fans know it, which is why they’re now rallying to Minaj’s defense after the Twitter exchange, while Taylor continues to come off like a clueless child of privilege who thinks bringing a snubbed artist onstage with her can balance a systemic blockade against celebrating curvature and outspoken black women.
That’s not what we mean, Taylor.
