By// Mariah Craddick
Nicki Minaj, one known to never bite her tongue for anyone, recently got indignant with Access Hollywood correspondent Laura Saltman after the reporter asked her a question she thought “didn’t even make sense.” Saltman got a hold of Minaj on the American Idol red carpet and tried to get the scoop on her latest Twitter tirade against Mariah Carey. Minaj told her the question didn’t make sense and when she tried to explain it further, she rolled her eyes and walked away.
But that’s not all. After the snub, Saltman took to Access Hollywood‘s site and penned an open note titled “American Idol: The Trouble With Nicki Minaj (Dish Of Salt)” about Minaj’s cyber bullying and blatant lack of professionalism. Here’s an excerpt:
Nicki and Mariah’s not-so-charming banter has included Nicki calling Mariah “sir” two weeks ago after a spat and Wednesday night referring to her as “Honey Boo Boo” as a final slam. For the record, Mariah never heard Nicki’s “sir” comment until after the show aired. When asked about it backstage, she wanted to respond but her publicist smartly told her not too. You see, Mariah is a professional who understands her reputation is everything. She has class. Nicki is another story.
In my 20 years in entertainment news, I have interviewed close to 5,000 celebrities — people who have bigger bragging rights than Nicki. Men and women who have Oscars , Grammys and Emmys. Yet, by far, she is the most ungracious of anyone I have met.
Each week, she comes backstage for interviews and we are told “two questions only” while her people hover over you and even, at times, have their hand on your arm as you end your interview to make you stop. Waiver from the two-question rule and Nicki herself will walk away. She makes zero eye contact and has no connection to whomever is interviewing her. If she likes your question, she may give you a proper answer. If she doesn’t, she may give you a dirty look and walk off. After she posted mean comments about Mariah on Twitter yesterday calling her “bitter” and “insecure,” I wanted to give her the opportunity to redeem herself or perhaps apologize. I phrased my question that her comments had caused quite a stir online and asked if she had anything to say about it. She looked at me and told me my question made no sense and when I tried to explain it further she just said “goodnight” and walked off in a huff.
Nicki’s comments yesterday on Twitter show who she really is – a mean girl, a cyber-bully who is just perpetuating the problems of social media. When will society finally take a stand and say ‘Enough!’ with all of the hateful, spiteful things people say about each other? We are more connected than ever online but more willing to hide behind our anonymous avatars and be nasty to people we barely know. As a celebrity, I would hope that Nicki would understand her fans look to her as a role model and she should choose her words more wisely. From what I have seen of her behavior since “Idol” began, I’m not sure she is capable of this. She’s a female rapper who should be proud of her accomplishments as a woman not cutting other women down.
The truth is that 20 years from now, Mariah Carey will still be known as one of the best female vocalists of all time. Nicki Minaj – well, I will let you decide that.
The shade! Of course Minaj had a response to the post and sounded off on Twitter about it.
Honestly, if your day was really RUINED because i walked away from a question, rather than discuss something negative, u need a LIFE. Lmao
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) May 3, 2013
Like…why? I spk to these ppl every single week. Go above and beyond! And the one time i ignore your ignorance u try to paint a bad pic?
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) May 4, 2013
But shout out to all the REAL journalists who were there and asked questions about AMBER and the rest of the CONTESTANTS!!! *salutes u* — Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) May 4, 2013
Someone might need to give Twitter a timeout. See the showdown at the 2:15 mark below:
