Tuesday, February 12, 2019

Nicki Minaj dumps Viacom's BET Experience festival and the 2019 BET Awards over BET's online Twitter bullying, pitting her against rival Cardi B.


Artist Nicki Minaj has dumped Viacom's BET (DStv 129) channel, saying she's pulling out of its upcoming BET Experience and will not be at or involved in its BET Awards after BET on its Twitter account commented on her appearance at Sunday night's 2019 Grammy Awards, saying "Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj is being dragged by her lacefront".

BET's online bullying - now deleted - unfavourable compared Nicki Minaj with her Grammy-winning rival, Cardi B who had a historic win on Sunday night when she became the first solo female rapper to win the award for best rap album.

Nicki Minaj said she's dumping BET's BET Experience and that she and her mentor, the Young Money music label rapper Lil Wayne, will no longer participate, and won't be setting a foot at the Viacom network's 2019 BET Awards later this year.

"Young Money will no longer be a part of the BET Experience or award show," Nicki Minaj wrote.

A few weeks ago BET announced weeks ago that both Nicki Minaj and Cardi B would be doing shows during the 4-day BET Experience in Los Angeles.

BET deleted the tweet and in a statement is apologising and says: "BET loves Nicki Minaj. We have supported her from the very beginning of her career and will continue to do so moving forward".

"Nicki has paved the way for so many performers and has solidified her place as one of the most powerful figures in the music industry. Unfortunately, the respect we have for Nicki was violated by this post that should never have been written."

"The post does not reflect how we feel about Nicki. And further does not reflect our company values. We deeply apologize for the hurt, disappointment and confusion that this post has caused. We are committed to doing everything we can to address the situation."

"We are also conducting an internal audit to assure these types of posts are not published again. We have apologized to Nicki and her team. The post has been removed and we have taken additional appropriate action."

"We understand Nicki's position and look forward to continuing our dialogue with her. Finally, we apologize to all of her fans. This should have never happened."