Possibilities of an on-going feud have apparently been quashed, after early rumors of trouble brewing between Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj were met with a hasty truce.
TMZ’s sources from inside the “American Idol” camp reported on Monday that Minaj and Carey antagonized one another during a taping for the show, with Mariah interrupting while Nicki attempted to critique contestants, only for Nicki to raise her voice and talk over her fellow judge. The trouble on the set came after Minaj arrived some 40 minutes late for the show on Sunday, creating tension with Carey and some of the other crew members. (Carey’s pique is somewhat understandable—by walking in so much later than Carey, Minaj could be interpreted as stating unequivocally which of them was the more important player.)
Before rumors of animosity between the two women surfaced, many questioned whether or not the pair would be able to share the spotlight on “Idol’s” judging table. Yesterday’s report seemed to give those questions merit, with the show still three months away from its season 12 debut. Come Monday however, the pop celebrities appeared to be singing a different tune, reportedly walking hand-in-hand down the hallways of New York’s Lincoln Center.
Nigel Lythgoe, who returned as “American Idol’s” executive producer this season, took to Twitter to dispel the negative press.
“Rumor has it we have a ‘cat-fight’ on #AmericanIdol WRONG! 2 Forces of Nature have “collided” in a good way. Smart, witty and intelligent,” he wrote.
Yesterday we pondered how differently things could between the two of them if the older Carey assumed a mentoring role with Minaj, taking the younger entertainer under her wing and helping to guide her through this incredibly stressful and exciting time in her career, as she becomes an international star with everybody trying to pull her in different directions. After all, a decade ago it was Carey who was in Minaj’s shoes as the young talented ingenue. Carey didn’t handle the pressure well at all, going into depressions and mood swings so severe that it halted her career in its tracks.
But now that she has emerged on the other side with a career still intact, Carey perhaps wised up overnight and saw the dangers in competing with the young, hip Minaj—realizing that in the end, neither one of them would win.
Season 12 of American Idol is set to debut in January 2013, with Keith Urban and Randy Jackson working alongside Minaj and Carey as the judges, and Ryan Seacrest once again serving as the show’s host.
