Stay Connected
Atlanta Black Star/Editor's Picks
Editor's PicksEntertainmentHer Side

Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and Why Black Women Don’t Matter

Posted byBy Tonya Pennington | Published on: | Updated on July 1, 2018 CommentsComments (7)

nicki-minaj-taylor-swiftThis Tuesday, a feud on Twitter between Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj sparked a discussion on race and gender. The feud began when Minaj released a series of tweets about being snubbed for a VMA nomination for her music video “Anaconda,” which featured a sexually empowered celebration of curvy Black women.

“If I was a different ‘kind’ of artist, Anaconda would be nominated for best choreo and vid of the year as well,” Minaj tweeted.”Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it.”

Minaj then tweeted, “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.”

This prompted Taylor Swift to tweet back, “I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot.”

Swift considers herself a feminist, but her comment is problematic because it perpetuates feminism that excludes women of color and brands Minaj as “an angry Black woman.”

In fact, some media outlets have been feeding this trope by portraying Minaj as unhinged while Swift is depicted as the calm. Both Swift and the media portrayal of the feud demean Minaj and her opinion, which is a shame when Minaj has made a very valid point.


Black women rarely receive true recognition for their pop culture contributions. If we say something or attempt to do something about it, then we get told that “everybody matters.”

The feud between Swift and Minaj is reminiscent of the #WhiteGirlsRock hashtag that circulated on Twitter during the Black Girls Rock! awards show earlier this year. Like Swift, the people who supported the hashtag stated that Black Girls Rock! was pitting people against each other.

This feud is more than just a celebrity rivalry. It is also a reflection of our current racial climate, one in which we have been told “All Lives Matter” when Black men and women have been killed by police and haven’t received justice.

If every woman truly mattered, then Black women would receive the same amount of recognition as white women. If every woman truly mattered, then Black women would be seen and heard as women.

Still independent.

We hope this story was worth your time. For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed Black-owned and independently run. We didn't get here by waiting on ad budgets that were never built to prioritize us. Our readers did that.

Corporate support for Black media has always been thin. Outlets like ours get roughly 1% of the $170 billion spent on U.S. advertising each year, and that margin is shrinking further as advertisers walk back the DEI-linked commitments they made in 2020. That's the backdrop. It's not why we're asking.

The wider picture isn't any steadier. Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under, it's rarely the ones built to center a Black perspective from the ground up that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Give once Give monthly Support another way

Related Stories

Back to top