Nicki Minaj/Wendy Williams Feud — What They're Beefing About
Another day, another rap feud.
Instagram Another day, another rap feud — this time, it's between one of the hottest rap stars in music today, and one of the most controversial talk show firebrands in the industry. While this isn't the first time that Wendy Williams has feuded with someone, this is the first time that she's aggravated all the wrong people for such a long period of time. So, what's going on in the Nicki Minaj/Wendy Williams feud?
Nicki Minaj is a name that needs no introduction. Born Onika Maraj, Nicki Minaj got her start on the mixtape scene in hip hop, where she was known as "Mixtape Nicki" and working with producers like Doe Pesci (Lloyd Banks, Tony Yayo, 50 Cent). She subsequently became the First Lady of the Young Money collective and was a contemporary of Drake and Tyga. As she went more pop with her sound, she started permeating the pop-culture consciousness. A stint as a judge on American Idol lead to such things as a voiceover part in the last Ice Age film.
Wendy Williams, too, is another name that needs no introduction. Originally starting her reign as the queen of gossip on New York's 98.7 KISS-FM, Wendy currently has a syndicated talk show called The Wendy Williams Show.
So let's look at what we know about why these ladies have beef with one another.
1. Nicki Minaj is feuding with Wendy Williams because of what Wendy said about Nicki's new husband.
Hot New Hip Hop reports that Nicki Minaj told her so-called "Queen Radio" listeners that she had no choice but to "drag" Wendy Williams for what Wendy said about Kenneth Petty, Nicki's new husband. (As a sidebar, there's no better last name for Nicki Minaj than "petty." We stan a petty queen.)
2. Wendy Williams called Nicki Minaj's husband a "sex offender."
We stan Nicki Minaj, for real, but Wendy Williams wasn't exactly lying about Kenneth Petty's past. "In 1995, he attempted first-degree rape of a 16-year-old girl. According to official records, Petty used a “knife/cutting instrument” during the attempted assault. He was sentenced to spend between 18-54 months in prison and is now a registered sex offender in the state of New York," reported Radar.
3. But Wendy Williams really has no room to talk about Nicki Minaj's husband, or anyone else.
Kenneth Petty has his own problems, to be sure, but as Yahoo reported, Wendy Williams's now-ex-husband, Kevin Hunter, gives a whole new meaning to the phrase, "those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." The outlet reports that Hunter has been having affairs on Wendy Williams for years, and recently, he got his longtime mistress pregnant. (This pregnancy led to Wendy Williams filing for divorce.)
4. Nicki Minaj called Wendy Williams "demonic."
"It's not about doing your job. There are people who report the news and there are people who do it with an evil intent in their heart, viciousness. And I pray for you because I know you're hurting and I know you must be sick and humiliated," she said on her Apple Radio show, according to E! News.
5. Wendy Williams has yet to apologize to Nicki Minaj for offending her.
It seems the problem is not what Wendy Williams said, but how she said it. And according to Page Six, that's what's got Nicki Minaj upset (and rightly so). However, Wendy Williams has yet to apologize to Nicki Minaj for offending her, according to the outlet.
6. Which is fine by Nicki Minaj, because she has no regrets about what she said to Wendy Williams, either.
“Nicki had no choice but to speak out on this. She usually doesn’t bother giving her attention to what people are saying about her, but when it comes to the man she loves, it’s a different story. Nicki chose this life, but Kenneth’s only dealing with this directly because of her, so when people attack him it weighs very heavy on her," a source close to Nicki Minaj told Hollywood Life.
So are you #TeamWendy or #TeamNicki?
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, and photographer whose work has appeared in People, Teen Vogue, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, and more. She is also the author of The Uprising series. For more information about Bernadette Giacomazzo, click here.