Welp, that ended quickly.
A mere day after Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift engaged in a Twitter exchange that netted unnecessary weigh-ins from Katy Perry (T Swift enemy) and Ed Sheeran (T Swift supporter—the only two categories in Taylor’s world, it seems), Taylor took again to social media to apologize to Minaj—and Nicki accepted.
The feud, which started over Minaj calling out the MTV Video Music Awards for not honoring her "Anaconda" video in the "Video of the Year" category and pointing out that only thin white women were featured in the top category, gained steam when Swift took offense and felt like Minaj was turning her back on women’s empowerment by taking a swipe at her. For Minaj’s part, she said it wasn’t personal, and asked Swift to comment on the double standard—which Swift, expectedly, did not.
Now, the feud is over, with Taylor tweeting an apology for missing the point:
I thought I was being called out. I missed the point, I misunderstood, then misspoke. I’m sorry, Nicki. @NICKIMINAJ
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 23, 2015
Nicki followed up with an acceptance of the apology and a public squashing of the beef:
That means so much Taylor, thank you. @taylorswift13
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 23, 2015
I’ve always loved her. Everyone makes mistakes. She gained so much more respect from me. Let’s move on. https://t.co/mx9pfIdnzT
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 23, 2015
So, it appears to be over. Still, it’s unfortunate that what could have been a watershed moment in addressing racist double standards in entertainment became just another flash-in-the-pan of pointless public conflict. Maybe Swift learned something important about how her brand of feminism could be deepened with an understanding of her own white privilege, but probably not.
(H/t Billboard)