Nicki Minaj Apologizes for Anti-Semitic Images in Lyric Video
Queen of controversy Nicki Minaj is being accused of promoting anti-Semitic images in the lyric video for her new song “Only,” a collaboration with Lil Wayne, Drake, and Chris Brown. The Anti-Defamation League and Twitter viewers have called out the “Anaconda” rapper for several moments that draw comparisons to Nazism.
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WARNING: Video contains explicit content.
Nicki is depicted as a dictator figure addressing a sea of soldiers wearing uniforms with red arm patches resembling those worn by members of Adolf Hitler’s army. The Young Money Records logo has been revamped, positioning the “Y” and “M” to resemble a swastika.
In another image, a fleet of tanks is lined up, presumably ready for attack.
Three fighter jets descend over a city in a separate drawing featured in the video described as a Jeff Osborne piece.
Later, a bomb is launched.
The video had sparked a massive backlash for Nicki on Twitter:
Most offensive music vid ever.MT @DavidMizner: Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, neo-Banderites,now Nicki Minaj:Nazism as cool http://t.co/DjrjbyLAiJ
— Ric Fouad (@ricfouad)
THANKYOU @NICKIMINAJ for #glamourizing #Nazism whats next? I know lets make a video of the RICH, FAMOUSE,& the SLAVE OWNERS. #only
— AshorinA (@AshoriinA)
Oh dear lord, what the hell is that new Nicki Minaj song Only? Horrible lyrics, Nazi imagery and Chris Brown. An unholy trinity of badness.
— sabitha (@sabby_baby109)
The video also prompted a response from the Anti-Defamation League’s national director, Abraham H. Foxman, who is a Holocaust survivor. “Nicki Minaj’s new video disturbingly evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop culture’s exploitation of Nazi symbolism,” Foxman said in a statement. “The irony should be lost on no one that this video debuted on the 76th anniversary of Kristallnacht, the ‘night of broken glass,’ pogrom that signaled the beginning of the Final Solution and the Holocaust.”
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Foxman added, “It is troubling that no one among Minaj’s group of producers, publicists and managers raised a red flag about the use of such imagery before ushering the video into public release. This video is insensitive to Holocast survivors and a trivialization of the history of that era. The abuse of Nazi imagery is deeply disturbing and offensive to Jews and all those who can recall the sacrifices Americans and many others had to make as a reslt of Hitler’s Nazi juggernaut.”
Though the majority of the Nazi comparisons occur during Nicki’s verse, it’s hardly the video and song’s only shocking moment. Drake is dressed as a Roman Catholic bishop, even donning a mitre headdress. The song unites Drake with his former nemesis Chris Brown, who sings the chorus. And Nicki, Drake, and Lil Wayne use explicit sexual language to dismiss rumors that Nicki has been romantically linked to either of her affiliated rap stars.
