Nicki Minaj defends Jesy Nelson against “blackfishing” claims in her latest music video, Boyz
Nicki Minaj defends Jesy Nelson against claims of “blackfishing” in her latest music video, Boyz!
For those who don’t know, Blackfishing is a word used to accuse someone of pretending to be black or mixed-race.
The US rapper took part in a joint Instagram live video in which she addressed claims that Little Mix’s Leigh-Anne Pinnock had accused her former bandmate of appropriating Black culture.
Nelson joined Minaj for the live video appearance but did not directly comment on the allegations, she simply nodded along.
Minaj said: “If I was rocking with you for 10 years and there was something so horrible about you and I kept on doing business with you and getting money with you for 10 years and then as soon as we part ways I’m texting people telling them to bring s*** up negative about you.
“Immediately that person has to wear a big red clown nose and big clown boots because you’re a big f***ing clown.”
The Bang Bang rapper went on saying: “There are lots of women out here in the United States that tan, get bigger lips, get all types of s*** done to themselves.
“I wear blonde hair, straight blonde hair down to my feet if I want to when I want to, contacts, whatever, I do whatever the f*** I want.
“As long as you’re not hurting anybody or speaking negatively about anybody’s race or culture, you should be able to enjoy your makeup, your body however you want to.”
Ex-Little Mix star Jesy Nelson bore the brunt of social media criticism for her appearance in the video for Boyz and was accused of blackfishing.
“I personally want to say that my intention was never, ever to offend people of colour with this video and my song because, like I said, growing up as a young girl, this is the music that I listened to,” Nelson said.
“These are the videos that I watched and thought were the best. For me personally, the 90s/2000 hip-hop, R&B music was the best era of music. I just wanted to celebrate that. I just wanted to celebrate that era of music because it is what I love.”
