Nicki Minaj Defends Former Little Mix Member Jesy Nelson As She Faces Backlash for “Blackfishing”

After dropping her hit single “Boyz” last week, Jesy Nelson should have been basking in victory; however, the internet decided to cut her happiness short. The video, which features Nicki Minaj and a guest appearance from Diddy, shows an ode to the early 00’s with the lowriders, gold teeth, and of course, the classic “Bad Boys for Life” sample that Mr. Diddy cleared himself. While the video received much praise for the creativity, some viewers pointed out how Jesy Nelson looked a lot different now than when she was a part of the group Little Mix.

Fans accused the British singer of what is known a Blackfishng. Blackfishing is when Caucasian people use artificial tanning, filters, and makeup to manipulate facial or bodily features to appear to have Black, African, Arab, or Hispanic ancestry or to appear mixed race. We first heard of blackfishing in 2018 when social media and culture critics saw a trend with white women online seemingly darkening their skin to appear black. Blackfishing has become a worrying trend over the last few years, with celebrities like Rita Ora, Kim Kardashian, and Bhad Babie being accused of it.

On Monday, Jesy went live with Nicki Minaj to discuss their collaboration, including the rumors that Jesy was blackfishing. The Trinidadian rapper held nothing back when the topic came up, stating, “As soon as people can’t get a bag with you, they tend to wanna stop your bag. In my opinion, if I was rocking with you for 10 years and there was something so horrible about you, and I kept doing business with you and getting money with you and shit like that for 10 years…and then, as soon as we part ways, I’m texting people telling them to bring shit up about you, immediately that person has to wear a big red clown nose and big red fucking clown boots, because you’re a fucking clown.”

Minaj, who also had a collab with Little Mix back in 20188 for their single Woman Like Me, was referring to the DM’s that Little Mix Member Leigh Anne Pinnock sent to TikToker NoHun, saying “Do a video about her being a black fish instead.” After he made a video dancing to “Boyz” saying that Jesy Blocked the girl group leading people to believe they unfollowed her.

Jesy did try to defend herself on the live, saying, “When I was in Little Mix, I just wanted to be accepted, so I changed the way I dressed, I tried to go on stupid diets, did everything I could to be accepted. I wasn’t being true to myself, and I needed to take myself out of that situation, because at the end of the day, Nicki, you live once, and you’ve gotta do what makes you happy.”.”

Fans were not happy with Nicki Minaj after the live as many pointed out that she was downplaying another black woman for a white woman and defending a trend that she once went after Miley Cyrus for in T Magazine a couple of years ago. If you remember, Miley Cyrus went through a little phase of creating hip-hop music with many black rappers and producers and adapting the cultural dance style of twerking created by the African American community. They also insinuated that the rapper was causing a distraction for her husband, Kenneth Petty, who was recently accused of intimidation and harassment by his alleged rape victim.

Nicki responded with a retweet that showed Leigh-Anne’s current best friend, who also had the same features as Jesy Nelson, giving off the impression that she too was blackfishing and Leigh-Anne did not have an issue with it.