This week saw the long-awaited return of the Met Gala, a chance for celebrities (A-list and otherwise) to wear cool clothes and suck up to Anna Wintour after a year and a half of pretending that the pandemic has affected them as much as anyone else. While the primary purpose of the annual gala is ostensibly to raise money for The Met’s Costume Institute, this year’s event provided something unique for those of us watching from home: a lengthy list of which celebrities are definitely vaccinated.
Few celebrities have spoken out publicly against the COVID vaccine, but with a vaccine mandate in place at the Met, there were no doubt some DL antivax celebs who were forced to quietly hang up their couture looks and spend the night in bed watching Fox News. But Nicki Minaj chose a different strategy, revealing she’s not currently vaccinated and candidly explaining on Twitter that if she gets vaccinated, it won’t be for an event like the Met Gala. Rather, she’ll only get vaccinated once she feels she’s “done enough research,” and that she’s “working on that now.” Given the fact that vaccines have been widely available for several months now, I’d love a bit more information on what type of research Minaj is doing, and why it’s taking so long. Something tells me she’s not conducting a peer-reviewed study.
But Nicki didn’t stop there, and added in a subsequent tweet that one of her biggest concerns about the vaccine stems from an anecdote about her cousin’s friend in Trinidad. According to Nicki, this man became “impotent” from receiving the vaccine, and his testicles also “became swollen.” As a result, the man’s fianceé called off their wedding, so Nicki cautioned her followers to “pray on it” and make sure they’re “not bullied” into getting the vaccine.
Wow, so uh, lots to unpack here, huh? Nicki’s questionable anecdote spread like wildfire across the internet, with many people suggesting that the cousin’s friend’s affliction sounded more like symptoms of an STI than a vaccine side effect. Either way, Nicki’s story instantly became the subject of some *chef’s kiss* memes.
Gutted. Was supposed to be attending a wedding in Trinidad, but it’s just been cancelled. Family won’t say why.
— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) September 14, 2021
— Tom Zohar (@TomZohar) September 13, 2021
Nicki’s cousin walking down the streets of Trinidad after he got the vaccine: pic.twitter.com/W4OsLX0NFU
— Brian Jimenez (@BrivnJimenez) September 13, 2021
And by Tuesday afternoon, Nicki’s far-fetched story had been addressed publicly by Dr. Fauci, who cautioned Minaj and others against letting “one-off anecdotes” that are made-up deter them from getting vaccinated in a CNN interview. In a news conference, UK Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson were also critical of Minaj. Whitty chastised her for “peddling untruths on social media” while Johnson noted that he is “not as familiar with the works of Nicki Minaj as I probably should be,” but that he’d rather listen to experts saying vaccines are safe and effective.
Minaj took the bait—because of course she did—and responded to the Prime Minister with a Twitter voice memo as her British alter ego Roman, where she claimed that she attended Oxford and studied with Margaret Thatcher. Right.
Watching all of this unfold on social media from the initial tweets to the hundreds of memes that followed to the global political discussion, I had to wonder, what the hell happened here? How many wrong turns did the human timeline have to take for us to be down this bad as a society? I mean, this situation is so messed up that, for a brief moment, I was forced to agree with Meghan McCain, who replied to Minaj’s tweet about the cousin’s friend in Trinidad “That’s entirely enough internet for today.”
The thing is, if Nicki Minaj really isn’t sure about getting vaccinated yet, whatever I guess. She’s probably hard at work doing her own research, and as long as stays home and isn’t eating at restaurants or attending indoor events or traveling until she gets the jab, that’s her prerogative. (I’m sure she’s not actually doing any of that, but whatever, let’s imagine she is.) She even acknowledged that she’ll likely get vaccinated eventually so she can work and go on tour. The bigger problem here is the way she’s using her massive platform to spread misinformation and uncertainty about vaccines. For everyone trolling Nicki and making memes about this Trinidadian dude’s allegedly massive balls, there are probably also some people sending the tweet to their friends and saying it’s a legitimate reason not to trust the vaccine.
Among her cascade of vaccine tweets, she included one where she polled her followers about which vaccine is best. In this deeply scientific study, Pfizer ran away with around 64% of the more than 300,000 votes, which obviously means a great deal more than a full FDA approval. As a recipient of the Moderna vaccine myself, I’m a little regretful that I didn’t receive the vaccine with the Barb seal of approval, but thankfully I’ve avoided any swollen body parts so far.
Images: Tinseltown / Shutterstock.com; daraobriain, tomzohar, brivnjimenez / Twitter
Yesterday afternoon, I was just minding my own business, when my phone lit up with a breaking news alert. It wasn’t about the impeachment proceedings, or results in Iowa, but something far more exciting: Nicki Minaj and Meek Mill were feuding on Twitter. So I cracked my knuckles, made a strong cup of coffee, and put on my reading glasses, because I knew this sh*t was about to get good.
These days, I’ve pretty much written Nicki Minaj off as problematic and annoying and stopped paying attention to her antics, but this is really too crazy to ignore. First, the background: Nicki and Meek broke up in 2017, and honestly, it’s surprising how low-key they’ve kept things since then. For someone who loves to start drama as much as Nicki Minaj, these two haven’t been that messy since they broke up. But obviously there’s, uh, some tension going on, which we got a glimpse of when Meek had a run-in with Nicki and her husband, Kenneth Petty, at a store in LA last month. In a video of the incident, Kenneth and Meek call each other pussies, and Meek is physically held back by his security while they’re all yelling at each other.
While we didn’t have specifics about the argument, to me it felt like the release of some negative feelings that have probably been simmering for a while. Funny, because when I have simmering negative feelings about someone, I usually just overthink things for months and ultimately make myself feel about it. But some people prefer yelling about it in a public place. Different strokes for different folks.
So yeah, after that, we knew that these exes weren’t in a great place, but things really took a turn for the worse on Wednesday afternoon, when Nicki decided to log on to Twitter and fire some shots Meek’s way. It started with this weird grainy photo of Meek on his phone, which has major Future texting meme vibes, and Nicki declaring that Meek’s “trigger fingers turn to #TwitterFingers” and that he’s obsessed with her.
*grabs popcorn*
Trigger fingers turn to #TwitterFingers bad built face ass obsessed with the Queen. pic.twitter.com/lsWNAe8xeh
— Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) February 5, 2020
In her first round of tweets, she went on to say that Meek has been “tweeting bout my man for a year now,” and that he said he was blocked from her Instagram. Tbh, if you don’t block your ex on Instagram, you’re too stable for me, so I respect Nicki’s decision here. But the best part of this tweet is the second half, when Nicki says that Meek “Sh*tted yaself in that store when u got pressed tho.” AND CLOWN EMOJI. SEND TWEET. Like I said before, I really have no idea what actually happened in that store, but I’m absolutely obsessed with this sentence and emoji combo.
Nigga been tweeting bout my man for a year now. Talking bout he went to my page to see him but he was blocked. My nigga, move on. I know ya btch embarrassed. Shitted yaself in that store when u got pressed tho. 🤡
— Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) February 5, 2020
As you can see from the timestamps, it only took our dude Meek Mill 10 minutes to hop on Twitter and fire back, and I’m really impressed with the efficiency of this feud. Who has time to wait hours for one celeb to respond to another celeb’s shady tweet?
From his very first tweet, Meek Mill went all the way in on Nicki, bringing up her brother’s recent court case. Here’s the deal with that: Last week, Jelani Maraj was convicted of sexually assaulting his 11-year-old stepdaughter, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. No matter how you feel about Nicki Minaj, what her brother did was absolutely disgusting, the fact that she reportedly him throughout the case and even posted his bail doesn’t make her look great. In the first tweet, Meek says that Nicki knew about what her brother was doing, and paid for his lawyer.
The only way you can try to kill my career is to say I beat women … talk about ya brother convicted of rape and you been knew and paid for his lawyer … ya little brother touched that lil girl too! You know I know … you want me to crash with ya boyfriend and I won’t
— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) February 5, 2020
At the end of that tweet, and in the next one, Meek gets into some cutting accusations about Nicki’s career. After working with three people to decipher what all of this actually means, I think I have it figured out. Meek is basically saying that Nicki wants him to feud with her man Kenneth, because her career is dragging, and she wants the publicity. Considering that Kenneth is literally a registered sex offender, it seems like Nicki would want to keep him out of the line of fire, but Meek might have a point. Nicki definitely doesn’t have the clout she used to, and it’s been a while since she had a big hit.
You sad you willing to crash your man because you losing now and everybody in the industry know you a bad person! You been knew your brother was raping that little girl that’s why I got away from you!
— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) February 5, 2020
After Meek Mill’s first round of allegations, Nicki fired back with what’s easily the most shocking tweet out of this whole feud. In less than 280 characters, she accuses Meek of:
- beating his sister
- filming said beating
- spitting on his sister
- taping said spitting
- kicking Nicki in front of his mom
- sending his mom to the hospital
- and finally, sucking Drake’s dick (pretty sure that’s a metaphor but still)
Guys. I need a f*cking nap just from unpacking this one single tweet. All of the problematic things about Nicki’s husband and brother were already out in the open, but all of these accusations about Meek Mill are brand new information. If any (or all) of this stuff is true, then I suddenly feel a lot more torn about whose side to take here.
You beat your own sister and taped it. Spit on her & taped it. Kicked me in front your mother and sent her to the hospital. Sucking drake dick made u feel tough again. Move on.
— Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) February 5, 2020
Nicki then addressed the situation with her brother, but naturally she found a way to turn it back onto Meek. She says in a now-deleted tweet that she “wasn’t involved,” and that he’s just talking about it to get people to dislike her. She also alleges that the mother of her brother’s victim (so, his wife) “is on tape asking me for $20 million to make the charge go away.” I think what Nicki is trying to do here is accuse this woman of extortion to make it seem like the whole case against her brother was a scam, but I feel like Twitter isn’t really the place to do that.
Imagine talking about an alleged rape of a child to hurt someone who wasn’t involved just so ppl can dislike me. You can never stand on your own. You won’t tell ppl the mother is on tape asking me for $20 million to make the charge go away tho. U was around. U know. See u soon
— Mrs. Petty (@NICKIMINAJ) February 5, 2020
In doing this, she also claims that Meek knew exactly what was going on, and calls him out for not mentioning these details. I don’t really get this argument. Maybe Meek should’ve just said nothing, but also… this is a Twitter feud, not a courtroom. It’s not Meek Mill’s job to present every possible objective fact about Nicki’s brother when the whole point of this situation is just for two petty exes to take shots at each other.
Then, Meek Mill tweeted and deleted a couple more messages taking shots at Nicki’s career. He said “ya bag getting low so ya wanna destroy me,” and also that he’s “never scared to speak up.” I have a feeling this was the moment Meek got a call from his publicist, saying that he actually needed to address those allegations of violence against women. His next two tweets had a markedly different tone—all of a sudden he’s above the drama, and doesn’t have time for “devils tricks.” I’m gonna start using that in everyday conversation, thanks Meek!
For clarification I don’t hit women and I won’t let my interviews be filled with question about her or any situation to do with her when I come out to do press for my new album! No devils tricks
— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) February 5, 2020
Honestly, I want to frame this tweet about Jeff Bezos and put it on my desk:
Meanwhile Jeff bezos & running up billions by the minute while us niggas just gone wild beefing all day lol … I see shit different now and I don’t really got the time Nomore
— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) February 6, 2020
Well, we’ve made it to the end, and what did we all learn? Meek and Nicki clearly don’t like each other a whole lot, Meek may or may not have done some really f*cked up stuff, and Nicki’s bag may or may not be getting low. Just a normal day on twitter dot com! Nicki and Meek have both quieted down on Twitter since these tweets, so they either got their frustrations out, or moved this heated conversation to a more private platform per their publicists’/lawyers’ instructions. Bless this mess.
In other Nicki Minaj news, she’s already ended her retirement, and her new single is causing controversy (shocking). On Instagram, she shared a clip of the song, which contains the lyric “you bitches Rosa Parks—get your ass up.” 🥴 The song is actually called “Yikes,” and it’s already living up to its name. This lyric probably wouldn’t be in great taste at any time of the year, but people got especially mad because Nicki posted the video on… Rosa Parks’ birthday. Smh, I really can’t with her. 2020 has already been a messy year, and with Nicki Minaj back in the game, it’s only getting messier.
Images: Allen Berezovsky/WireImage; meekmill, nickiminaj / Twitter
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At one point or another, we’ve all said things we shouldn’t have. Whether you said your boss’s idea was dumb in a meeting or gave your friend your honest opinion about how she looked in an outfit, it happens. But there’s a big difference between telling Jen her dress is too tight and saying sh*t that’s actually bigoted or otherwise problematic. Seems like an easy concept to grasp, but some celebrities just don’t seem to get this. Case in point: J.K. Rowling. While she became a billionaire by creating the Wizarding World, she f*cks up a lot when it comes to things in the real world. Today, she’s in hot water for a tweet about an important UK legal decision, and it’s really not a good look for her.
Here’s the background: a woman named Maya Forstater, who worked at a poverty think-tank, was fired for a series of tweets questioning government plans to allow people to self-identify as whatever gender they chose. In one tweet, Forstater specifically stated that “men cannot change into women,” blatantly disregarding scientific opinion, along with the experiences of countless trans people. Forstater contested her firing at the Central London Employment Tribunal, but this week, they ruled against her. The judge called Forstater’s views “absolutist,” and said that they serve to create “intimidating, hostile, degrading, humiliating or offensive environment.” Basically, it’s almost 2020, and trans people aren’t going anywhere, sorry Maya.
What I am so surprised at is that smart people who I admire, who are absolutely pro-science in other areas, and champion human rights & womens rights are tying themselves in knots to avoid saying the truth that men cannot change into women (because that might hurt mens feelings)
— Maya Forstater (@MForstater) September 30, 2018
In the wake of the decision, J.K. Rowling did what she always does, and tweeted something outlandish even though nobody asked. She tweeted her support for Forstater, claiming that the Tribunal is trying to “force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real,” and using the hashtag #IStandWithMaya. As someone who took like, two gender studies classes in college, this tweet immediately made me cringe. Rowling doesn’t seem to understand the difference between sex and gender here—so, for the people in back, let’s take a look at the GLAAD definitions. Sex is “the classification of a person as male or female,” which is assigned at birth, “usually based on the appearance of their external anatomy.” Gender identity, however, is “a person’s internal, deeply held sense of their gender,” and “for transgender people, their own internal gender identity does not match the sex they were assigned at birth.” No one said sex isn’t real here, because the issue was never about sex. It was about gender and gender identity.
Dress however you please.
Call yourself whatever you like.
Sleep with any consenting adult who’ll have you.
Live your best life in peace and security.
But force women out of their jobs for stating that sex is real? #IStandWithMaya #ThisIsNotADrill— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 19, 2019
On top of being like, factually incorrect, with this statement, JK Rowling is dipping her toes into an area of feminism that’s hardcore problematic. In the wake of her tweet, she’s been labeled a TERF: Trans-Exclusionary Radical Feminist. This term, which was coined in 2008, describes a subset of feminists who have transphobic views, a main one being that trans women aren’t real women. While some women who have been called TERFs argue that the term is a slur, that’s probably because they’re not ready to talk about the fact that they believe in sh*tty, hurtful things.
Trans women are women.
Trans men are men.
Non-binary people are non-binary.CC: JK Rowling.
— Human Rights Campaign (@HRC) December 19, 2019
After her latest tweet, J.K. has been called out on Twitter by thousands of people, including some of the top advocacy groups for LGBTQ issues. She’s yet to respond to the controversy, but hopefully she can take this as a learning opportunity and fix her transphobic views. Maybe I’m being too optimistic, but it’s just kind of sad that J.K. Rowling sucks this much. Because she has created such beloved books and characters, it’s tempting to dismiss a comment like this as a misunderstanding, or a one-off tone-deaf moment, but that’s just not the case. She has sucked for a long time.
This latest issue is far from the only time J.K. Rowling’s behavior has raised questions. Perhaps most famously, many people have been upset by the decision to keep Johnny Depp in the Fantastic Beasts movies after he was accused of physical and verbal abuse by his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Even Daniel Radcliffe questioned the decision, telling Entertainment Weekly, “I suppose the thing I was struck by was, we did have a guy who was reprimanded for weed on the film, essentially, so obviously what Johnny has been accused of is much greater than that.”
Rowling has also been accused of using her after-the-fact revelations about Harry Potter characters as a deflection of criticism that the books aren’t very inclusive, and it’s hard to argue with this. If Dumbledore was really gay all along, would it have killed her to mention it even once in seven books? Yeah, she should probably just stick to writing, and maybe include a little more diversity in her next book.
Of course, J.K. Rowling is far from the only celebrity who has made an uncomfortable habit of saying things they just shouldn’t. Here are a few of the most prolific sufferers of foot-in-mouth-syndrome—have fun cringing while you remember all these moments.
Lena Dunham
Honestly, where to even start with Lena Dunham? I loved Girls, and I think most people can agree she’s talented, but every time she opens her mouth I dread what she’s going to say. You know you officially have a problem when your Wikipedia page has a whole section titled “Controversies,” and Lena Dunham’s history of putting her foot in her mouth is a lot to take in. For today, we’ll just enjoy some of the highlights.
In 2014, Dunham’s book Not That Kind of Girl created controversy around a story about being sexually assaulted by a classmate at Oberlin College. The issue wasn’t with the story itself, rather the fact that the pseudonym she used for her abuser was…not a pseudonym at all. She described a guy named Barry in great detail, and then a real-life guy named Barry came forward, claiming that her description matched up a little too closely. Random House had to reprint the book with a clarification apologizing for the “confusion.”
That wasn’t the only controversy surrounding Dunham’s book. She got even more backlash for passages where she writes about interacting with her one-year-old sister in a sexual nature when she was seven, which many people labeled as predatory behavior. Dunham’s sister defended her, saying people should be able to make their own decisions “for themselves what has and has not been normal,” but yeah, this didn’t sound normal. Everyone from attorneys to child psychologists weighed in on the controversy, and it still weirds me out, even five years later.
And by the way, if you were a little kid and never looked at another little kid's vagina, well, congrats to you.
— Lena Dunham (@lenadunham) November 1, 2014
One of Lena Dunham’s most puzzling moments came in 2016, when she said publicly that she wishes she’d had an abortion. When speaking on a podcast about abortion rights and understanding women’s experiences, she said “I can say that I still haven’t had an abortion, but I wish I had.” Whatever your thoughts are about whether abortion is okay or not, wishing you had one, like, for the story seems incredibly strange.
Scarlett Johansson
In case you haven’t noticed, Scarlett Johansson is white. In fact, you could say that she’s very white. And despite being an incredibly talented actor, she’s not so talented when it comes to accepting her privilege and staying out of the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. This has specifically been an issue with some roles she’s accepted in the past. She played an Asian woman in Ghost In The Shell, and was slated to play a transgender man in the movie Rub & Tug, before she left the project for unknown reasons. It would be nice to think that those reasons had something to do with her casting being problematic in the first place, but as recently as this summer, she’s stated that she doesn’t see the issue with her playing non-white, non-cis roles.
Definitely Scarlett johansson. Who else would even dare to play a tree?! https://t.co/rGZQiQzYV1
— V (@AllYouNeedIsATV) December 18, 2019
When speaking to As If magazine in July, she stated that “as an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job.” She got trolled online for the tree part, but the whole thing is rough, whatever way you look at it. She also said that the trend toward political correctness “needs to happen for various social reasons,” but that it makes her uncomfortable, because she feels “art should be free of restrictions.” Oh Scarlett, honey, no.
Nicki Minaj
Nicki Minaj has been a polarizing figure throughout her career, and has a habit of feuding with basically every female rapper on the face of the earth. Whether you think the feuds are fun or exhausting, they’re not that problematic, for the most part. But Nicki’s track record when it comes to working with (and dating) known abusers is pretty bad.
Nicki has long collaborated with Chris Brown, and in 2018, lots of people got mad at her for working—and developing a close friendship—with rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine. As you may have heard, this week he was sentenced to two years in federal prison for gang-related offenses, but this isn’t his first time being in trouble with the law. Back in 2015, he pleaded guilty to three felony counts of “use of a child in a sexual performance,” which is as gross as it sounds. Last year, Nicki publicly voiced her support for him, despite him pleading guilty to all the charges against him. But her friendship with 6ix9ine was not a one-off instance of Nicki supporting a sex offender.
Also last year, Nicki started dating Kenneth Petty, who happens to be a registered sex offender. He was convicted of attempted rape back in the 1990s, which seems like it would be a dealbreaker for most people, but Nicki clearly has no issue with it. In fact, she’s bashed people on social media for criticizing her relationship decisions, and she and Kenneth are still going strong and apparently married. Welp.
There are plenty of other celebs who have said their fair share of ill-advised things, but these are a few of the most egregious ones. Which celebrities have caused you to cringe the most over sh*t they’ve said? Is there anyone who’s overdue for a canceling? Lmk in the comments.
Images: jk_rowling, hrc, lenadunham, allyouneedisatv / Twitter; theshaderoom / Instagram
First, for all of you reading this, an apology: as I write this it’s 1am in California, and I am delirious after three days of partying journalism and mild dehydration. I can only hope what I’m about to publish is in the realm of what could be considered coherent. Here we go. The first weekend of Coachella came to a close on Sunday night, meaning that wannabe influencers from across the globe would soon have to return to those jobs. But for 90 glorious minutes, we could rest our tiny sunglasses on our heads and bid Coachella goodbye with Ariana Grande, who closed out the festival on the eponymous main stage.
Ariana had no less than four outfit changes, which she explained by saying “I couldn’t choose an outfit to Coachella so I just wore all of them.” Aka me when packing for any trip ever, but especially for Coachella.
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She came in hot with “break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored” and brought out *NSYNC to sing the bridge (her song samples *NSYNC’s “It Makes Me Ill”). Or, I should say, she brought out *NSYNC minus Justin Timberlake—still good enough for me. Then, they all joined forces for “Tearin Up My Heart”. I’m sure at least half the crowd was too young to know that song, but it brought my old ass a lot of joy.
A little later on, during “Side to Side”, Ariana brought Nicki Minaj to do her verse. Unfortunately it sounded like Nicki’s mic kept cutting out. Sound issues seemed to be an overarching problem throughout the weekend. For example, Lizzo’s Sunday evening set on a completely different stage, an otherwise electric performance, kept getting interrupted by sound issues as well. In any case, Ariana and Nicki continued the momentum from “Side to Side” into “Bang Bang” (sans Jessie J), where once again there were some issues with Nicki’s mic—or so it seemed to me, situated not at the back but definitely not up at the front either. Look, I was not about to camp out for half the day and miss most of Coachella. So I perceived some sound issues is all I’m saying. That said, Nicki looked flawless and the moment she came out immediately injected the crowd with energy.
Nicki Minaj interrupted her hiatus to perform at the Coachella w/ Ariana Grande and the production so incompetent that it didn’t fix the technical problems. ? pic.twitter.com/aQTLtUI2zF
— The Kingdom (@TheKingdomReal) April 15, 2019
After another outfit change, and a quick disclaimer about loving Coachella and wanting to cry (same), Ariana broke into “Breathing”. She had a band for the whole performance, but “Breathing” included live strings, which made it more emotional.
There was a brief segue into a few Big Sean songs—Ari covered his part, no appearance there—and I remarked to my friend that I didn’t know the pair had done so many songs together. (Neither of us knew.) I wasn’t the only one ignorant on the apparently vast Ariana Grande/Big Sean discography.
But probably the biggest shock of the night came when Ariana started to break into the chorus of “Mo Money, Mo Problems”, seemingly on a whim. Like you’d do if you were singing absentmindedly while cleaning. Only this wasn’t absentminded at all, because out came P F*CKING DIDDY and MASE themselves. Like, didn’t Mase quit rapping so he could become a pastor? Isn’t that his whole thing?? Did Ariana bring Mase out of retirement? I know I could easily Google it, but it’s 2am, like I said. And anyway, did a single one of us expect Mase to come to Coachella? No. I was shook. He and Diddy rapped the verses and Ari sang the chorus while a photo montage to Biggie Smalls projected on the screens surrounding them.
P.DIDDY IS ON STAGE WITH ARIANA #ARICHELLA pic.twitter.com/Z2n6sfrzh8
— Ruby ? (@h2gnotearsleft) April 15, 2019
That concluded the special guest portion. Personally, I was rooting for (and had money on) a 2 Chainz appearance, given that he and Ariana just collabed on “Rule The World”, and that he was at Coachella anyway and dropped by Gucci Gang’s set. So now I owe my friend $5. Sad. Still, *NSYNC was a fun addition, Diddy and Mase were an unpredictable twist, and Nicki was a pleasant surprise that somehow seemed inevitable, but in a good way. Like, we were all hoping for it, and it actually happening made it that much better.
And in the end, we really came to see Ariana anyway—not her famous friends. She showed off her immense talent (she really can SING, hitting all the high notes and only taking brief breaks to change outfits) and did a pretty good mix of old hits and current tracks off Sweetener, the new album she’s currently on tour supporting. There wasn’t a single song of hers that I wished she’d done. Well, maybe “imagine”, but the girl’s already been through so much this year—I was not actively rooting to see her cry onstage, and that song is emotional af.
When Ari’s voice cracks and she gets emotional singing “wish I could say thank you to Malcom.” I felt that ?#ARICHELLA#ARIANAGRANDE pic.twitter.com/9HdwLWL9L7
— J (@mesmrz) April 15, 2019
And of course she closed with “thank u next”, after a brief fakeout where she let us believe the show was over for a few agonizing minutes. She turned off the lights and pretended to walk away, so we all started chanting “thank u, next”, but come on. Of course she was going to do “thank u, next”. And do it she did, for her final song of the night and of Coachella weekend 1. It was no recreation of every beloved female empowerment movie, but it was still amazing to watch. Ari’s outfit was coordinated with the visuals on the screen. Her dance moves were choreographed and on point. And towards the end, a confetti cannon shot out confetti that matched her outfit and the stage’s visuals and ended the whole thing with a bang, literally, with fireworks.
Thank u, next weekend.
This Sunday is the 61st annual Grammys, otherwise known as white privilege in action “Music’s biggest night.” That’s a nice tagline, but this year especially, I’m not sure it’s true. That’s because some of the biggest stars in music won’t even be there. Umm, come again? While confirmed performers for the 61st annual Grammys include Cardi B, Travis Scott, and Shawn Mendes, the roster falls short of what you might expect. First of all, many of our favorite artists aren’t performing (and we’ll get to who in a minute). What’s worse, some of the most popular artists of the year got snubbed in the major categories, so they’re not even wasting their time to show up at all. Honestly, relatable. Others have different excuses, but either way, the Grammys will be a little lacking in star power this year. Here’s who you won’t be seeing on the Grammys red carpet this year.
Ariana Grande
Earlier this week, Ariana Grande made big news when she pulled out of the performance roster for the 61st annual Grammys. She wanted to perform “7 rings,” but the producers said she could only do it in a medley with another song of their choosing. Ari wasn’t happy about this, so she decided to not do the show. This is really not great for the Grammys, especially considering they’ve been using Ariana’s face on billboards to advertise the show. Awkwardddd. Honestly, Ariana Grande is the biggest star in the world right now, so they should have just let her do literally whatever she wants. You really can’t discuss music in 2018 without spending at least 5 minutes on “thank u, next”.
Bradley Cooper
Despite “Shallow” being nominated for four Grammy awards, Bradley Cooper won’t be in attendance. Instead, he’ll be in London at the British Academy Film Awards, or BAFTAs, which are basically the British version of the Oscars. This makes sense, because A Star Is Born is nominated for seven awards, and Bradley is up for both Best Actor and Best Director. It seems like a pretty big scheduling f*ckup that both of these award shows are on the same night, but I guess there’s usually not much overlap in the nominees. Shockingly, Lady Gaga is separating herself from Bradley Cooper for a night, as she will be performing at the Grammys. There can be 100 people in a room, but what happens when the one person who believes in you isn’t one of them?
Taylor Swift
Apparently the BAFTAs are this year’s hottest excuse for missing the Grammys this year, because Taylor Swift is going to be across the pond too. After missing out on nominations in the major Grammy categories this year, even though it feels like Reputation came out three years ago, Taylor decided to go to the BAFTAs with her man Joe Alwyn instead. This is actually kind of a big deal, considering how hard the Grammys have kissed Taylor’s ass in the past. Also, she and Joe have rarely appeared in public before, so she’s sending a message that things are serious between them. I won’t pretend I’m sad about her absence, but I am sad that I won’t get another chance to roast Reputation. Alexa, play “Look What You Made Me Do”.
Nicki Minaj
Cardi B is nominated for five awards at this year’s Grammys, but her biggest rival, Nicki Minaj, didn’t manage to get a single one. That’s gotta hurt. Nicki might not be at the top of her game right now, but she did release a new album in August, so this snub had to feel like a slap in the face. Or, more accurately, a shoe to the head. Nicki and Cardi seem to have cooled their feud in the last couple months, but if Cardi walks away a big winner on Sunday night, I have a feeling that Nicki Minaj will have a hard time resisting the urge to tweet. Hold onto your Louboutins, because this could get interesting.
Drake
So far this year, we haven’t heard anything about whether Drake is going to the Grammys. Based on his seven nominations, you’d think he’d be first on the list, but he actually hasn’t attended the Grammys since 2013. He’s skipped out on four years when he was nominated for multiple awards, including two years ago, when “Hotline Bling” won two awards. In the past, he’s been openly critical about the Grammys’ treatment of rap artists, including not showing the hip-hop categories on the TV broadcast, so his absence makes sense. Drake could decide at the last minute to show up this weekend, but I wouldn’t put money on it. I feel like 2019 is not the year anybody is giving up on the issues they care about.
With no nominations in major categories this year, other stars likely to skip this year’s Grammys include Beyoncé and Jay-Z and Kanye West. Honestly, why would Kanye even want to go if he wouldn’t get the chance to mess with Taylor Swift? And Beyoncé’s joint album with Jay-Z only got nominated in two minor categories, so it’s probably not even worth them getting a babysitter. Hopefully the Grammys will still be an exciting show, but it’s not looking great. Cardi B and Lady Gaga, please don’t let us down. If nothing else, at least Kylie Jenner might be there to cheer on Travis Scott? Wow, this is bleak.
Images: Giphy (2)
Hello, and welcome back to the latest installment in the saga that is Nicki Minaj and Cardi B’s feud. It’s been nearly two months since the last major flare-up in the feud, but things have clearly not settled down at all. The epic fight at New York Fashion Week basically broke the internet, and now both women are back at it, throwing a wide variety of jabs at each other on Monday. It’s really tough to keep track of everything that’s happening, but I’m going to try to break down the most important points. Brace yourselves for a clusterf*ck of drama featuring leaked phone numbers, Diesel jeans, and…Little Mix? 2018 is bizarre, guys.
The Fashion Week Fight
As if they were on an episode of The People’s Court, Nicki Minaj and Cardi B really have a different version of these events. A quick refresher: during NYFW, they both attended the Harper’s Bazaar Icons party, where everything went to absolute sh*t. There was at least one Louboutin thrown, and Cardi B ended up with a lump on her forehead. Nicki’s entourage allegedly fought Cardi, but it’s always been pretty unclear exactly what went down. On Monday, Nicki got into the details on her radio show. She claimed her friend Rah Ali punched Cardi “9 or 10” times, which is pretty intense. She also said she paid $100,000 for the surveillance footage of the incident, and also has her own videos.
Cardi B recalls things a bit differently. She posted a series of 10 videos on Instagram, where addresses a ton of different things. She says Rah Ali never hit her, which completely contradicts what Nicki said. She also said she would never lie about this when there are “so much footages” of the incident. She also responded to Nicki’s mention of suing over the NYFW fight, saying that she doesn’t need to sue for the fight because she’s a “street b*tch” and “that’s called snitching.” I mean, she’s not wrong? Then again, I’m not exactly qualified to comment on matters of the street.
The Migos Drama
As you probably already know, Cardi B is married to Offset, who is the second most famous member of Migos. Earlier this year, Nicki and Cardi both featured on a Migos song called “Motorsport,” and there is clearly still unresolved drama surrounding the collab. In her Instagram videos, Cardi says that she got mad because Nicki changed her verse at the last minute, and the verse was negative toward Cardi. Valid. She says that she called Nicki twice to discuss the issues, but Nicki never picked up. This is one issue that Cardi seems justified being angry about, but then she shows Nicki’s phone number on her screen as proof. CARDI, WHY?? (Cardi’s sister also alleged that Nicki leaked Cardi’s number in the past, but Nicki denied it. Cardi thinks that Rah Ali might be the one leaking numbers on behalf of Nicki.)
In addition, Nicki claimed that Cardi stopped Offset and 21 Savage from doing a music video for their collab on “No Flag.” Cardi steadfastly denied that she ever tried to “stop Nicki’s bag.” She instead claims that Offset and 21 Savage didn’t do the music video because “the song wasn’t doing that good” and it would’ve been a waste of their time. Ouch.
The Collab Offers
Cardi claimed that instead of stopping Nicki’s bag, she actually helped her bag. (I just like referencing the bag, sue me.) She said that Nicki only got her deal with Diesel jeans because she declined it first, because she’s busy working with other brands. But then, in an unexpected twist, Bill Wackermann, the CEO of Wilhelmina Models (major), chimed in, saying that the Diesel campaign was always built around Nicki. Really, the most surprising thing about all of this is that I’m thinking about Diesel in 2018.
Speaking of Cardi passing up offers, she also said that Nicki only got the feature on the new Little Mix song because she turned it down. (In case you don’t know, Little Mix is a super popular girl group in the UK. Think Fifth Harmony but British.) Little Mix jumped in to the drama, posting a statement on Twitter Tuesday morning, saying that their label gave them the choice of Nicki or Cardi, and they chose Nicki. Every feud needs a good notes app statement, so thanks Little Mix.
— Little Mix (@LittleMix) October 30, 2018
A Peace Offering?
After a lot more back and forth, and Nicki accusing Cardi of not writing her own lyrics, it seems like both ladies just got tired. Honestly, same. Nicki went on Twitter to say that she’s ready to focus on positive things, and that she “won’t be discussing this nonsense anymore.” After a decade of following Nicki Minaj, I’m not sure I fully believe this, but I hope it’s true. Cardi posted Nicki’s tweet to her Instagram in agreement, so it seems like they’re in a stalemate for now.
There are obviously a lot of nuanced issues at play here, but I really hope Nicki Minaj and Cardi B can just keep it cool for a while. They’re both massively successful on their own, and they don’t need this drama to fuel their careers. It’s impossible to know who’s telling the truth with all this stuff, so they both come off looking bad. Not to sound like that lame girl from Mean Girls, but can’t we all just get along?
Images: @iamcardib / Instagram (2); @LittleMix / Twitter
It’s hard to keep up with all the celebrity news these days. There are countless feuds between singers who hate each other that we are all aware of (hi Cardi B and Nicki Minaj). But there are some celebrities who hate each other that do so in a more tasteful private manner. Ever think actors really aren’t that good at their job? Well, there are a bunch of co-stars who can’t stand one another and you’ll be shocked when you find out. I apologize in advance for possibly ruining your favorite movies or shows when you learn about these celebrities who hate each other. Whoops.
1. Rachel McAdams Ryan Gosling
This one broke my heart. Apparently, when they first started filming The Notebook the chemistry was not there. Gosling even asked the director to replace McAdams but instead, the two were forced into a couples therapy session. LOL. This ended up working because their acting in the movie is v compelling and the two even went on to date on and off for four years after filming.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes
During the filming of Romeo + Juliet, Danes found DiCaprio to be immature and avoided him at all cost when they weren’t in scenes together. DiCaprio was 21 while Danes was 17 at the time. She didn’t like that he would prank others on set, while he reportedly thought she was uptight. I guess it’s true when they say girls mature faster than boys.
3. Mariah Carey and Everyone
Carey has a reputation of being a diva. And the celebrity feuds she is involved in are endless. The list includes Nicki Minaj, J.Lo, Demi Lovato, and probably continues to grow as we speak.
4. Kelly Osbourne and Christina Aguilera
This one is rather one-sided. After Osborne said, referring to Aguilera, “Maybe she is just becoming the fat b–ch she was born to be. I don’t know.” Fat shaming is never cool. Although this duo has a long history of snarking comments to one another, Aguilera stayed quiet in this specific instance. Only time will tell if this feud will continue.
5. Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrall
Ugh. It’s v depressing to know that your fav BFFs on TV are actually part of the list of celebrities who hate each other. That said, Parker and Cattrall have been pretty public about their *lack of* friendship. In February, Cattrall posted to her Instagram (see post here) to call Parker out for being a fake friend and to tell her to leave her alone after her brother’s death. Ouch. Fans, including myself, were devastated to learn about this feud, especially since that meant no third Sex and the City movie.
Images: Giphy (3)
Nicki Minaj has been the queen of rap for nearly a decade (don’t @ me), and in that time, she’s rarely let us down. Thus, when the news broke about Nicki and Cardi B’s altercation at the Harper’s Bazaar fashion week party, I knew Nicki wouldn’t stay silent for long. (Side note: I still can’t believe any of this actually happened. We are truly blessed, what can I say?) Well, the Queen has spoken, and it was worth the wait.
On Monday, she was hosting her radio show on Beats 1 (who knew Nicki Minaj had a radio show?), and she had some things to say about her issues with Cardi. Grab the popcorn, because this sh*t is more entertaining than Avatar.
“You’re angry and you’re sad. This is not funny. Get this woman some f*cking help. This woman’s at the highest point in her career and she’s throwing shoes?”
I’m a big fan of the use of “this woman.” Nicki doesn’t have the time of day to even utter Cardi’s name, and I’m totally here for the cattiness. Nicki obviously doesn’t love getting shoes thrown at her, but she also claims that all of Cardi B’s accusations are lies:
“I would never ridicule anyone’s child. so sad for someone to pin that on somebody. I would never talk about anyone’s child or parenting. These lies are ridiculous.”
I love Nicki Minaj, but I have a feeling she’s glossing over some things here. We don’t know the whole backstory of what’s gone down with Cardi and Nicki, but I doubt Cardi just made these things up out of thin air. There are three sides to every story, and baby Kulture is still a little young to tell hers.
Now, let’s get to the best part of this entire thing. After talking about how she would neeeeever speak ill of an innocent child, Nicki had some cute last words for Cardi:
“You put your hands on certain people, you gonna die. Period.”
AHHHHHHH. What does it mean? Are you scared? I’m scared!!! We already know Nicki is out to get Kylie and Stormi after they rudely stopped her from having a number one album (my favorite conspiracy theory of the year), and now Cardi and her daughter might just be next on the hit list. Watch your backs, ladies! Is this the beginning of World War 3? Will there be diss tracks? Stay tuned, because I have a feeling all of this is just getting started.
