Nicki Minaj leapt to the defense of her “Boyz” collaborator, former Little Mix bandmember Jesy Nelson.
The pair hopped on social media to promote the single.
“There’s a lot of women out here in the United States that tan, get bigger lips. I wear straight blonde hair when I want to,” said Minaj.
While it’s not as common, some Black people are born blonde. It’s not synonymous with being caucasian. For instance, the Melanesians of the south pacific are typically blonde.
What is Blackfishing?
Blackfishing is a form of cultural appropriation where the person alters their image to appear to be Black or mixed race and is derived from the colloquialism “catfishing.”
Nelson issued an apology to those offended by her look in the video.
“I personally want to say that my intention was never ever to offend people of color with this video and my song because like I said, growing up as a young girl, this is the music that I listened to,” she said.
“These are the videos that I watched and thought were the best. For me personally, ’90s R&B were the best years in music. I just wanted to celebrate that. I just want to celebrate that era of music is what I love.”
She also denied claims that she’d used fake tan for the video shoot:
“I’m just really lucky as a white girl that when I’m in the sun, I tan so dark like, so many people have said to me before like Leigh-Anne [Pinnock] in the group has said, ‘You sure you’re like not mixed-race because you’ve got darker than me in the sun. That’s crazy,'” Nelson said of her former bandmate. “I wanted to come on this live today as well and show everyone my hair is naturally curly. I’ve always had curly hair. I got it from my dad.”
“I genuinely didn’t think I was doing anything wrong, because I’ve got naturally curly hair,” Nelson added.
Minaj threw a few shots Pinnock’s way:
“Take them text messages and shove it up your f—king ass,” Minaj said of texts Pinnock sent to Nelson after the video premiered. “Let her enjoy this time. If you was in this group and haven’t talked about this s—t for 10 years… If you want a solo career baby girl just say that. If that’s how you felt, why were you kiki’ing with her and being in videos with her for 10 years.”
