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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Nicki Minaj: Nazi imagery not mine

Minaj in 2012  (Photo by Eva Rinaldi)
In rapper Nicki Minaj's recent video "Only," Nazi imagery abounds.

She has apologized for this by tweeting these words:  I didn’t come up w/the concept, but I’m very sorry and take full responsibility if it has offended anyone.  I’d never condone Nazism in my art.

Not coming up with the concept doesn't absolve a participant of any responsibility in popularizing it.  Therefore, Minaj’s apologetic explanation seems both necessary and reassuring.

Video director Jeff Osborne, who fully admits to coming up with the concept, defends his choice.  He states that he not only used Nazi images such as “flags, armbands and gas mask,” but also used American images such as the “MQ9 Reaper Drone,
F22 Raptor, Sidewinder missile…”

Osborne claims that the use of all this imagery is meant to alert Americans to how they “willfully squeeze” themselves out of their First Amendment rights “every day.”

Osborne added that this social-media, pop-culture video is a key way of reminding “younger generations of atrocities that occurred in the past as a way to prevent them from happening in the future.”  

Resources
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicki-minajs-only-director-admits-nazi-influence-wont-apologize/

Copyright November 16, 2014 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved


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