Two days after Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj's Twitter exchange [1] about the MTV VMA nominations, Taylor tweeted an apology to the rapper and Nicki later replied. She wrote [2], "I thought I was being called out. I missed the point, I misunderstood, then misspoke. I'm sorry, Nicki. @NICKIMINAJ." Nicki replied by thanking Taylor, and she added in a second tweet [3], "I've always loved her. Everyone makes mistakes. She gained so much more respect from me. Let's move on."
I thought I was being called out. I missed the point, I misunderstood, then misspoke. I'm sorry, Nicki.
@NICKIMINAJ [4]
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 23, 2015 [5]
That means so much Taylor, thank you. @taylorswift13 [6] ❤️❤️❤️
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 23, 2015 [7]
The singer's apology refers to Tuesday's tweets, which seemed to involve a misunderstanding between the pair. In a series of tweets, Nicki referenced the MTV VMA nominations [8] and the fact that her video for "Anaconda" didn't get a nod for video of the year [9]. While calling out issues within the music industry, she tweeted, "If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year." Taylor, who's nominated for her "Bad Blood" video, replied, "@NICKIMINAJ I've done nothing but love and support you. It's unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot." Soon after, Nicki clarified that she wasn't referring to Taylor.
@NICKIMINAJ [10] 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..
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) July 21, 2015 [11]
Huh? U must not be reading my tweets. Didn't say a word about u. I love u just as much. But u should speak on this. @taylorswift13 [12]
— NICKI MINAJ (@NICKIMINAJ) July 21, 2015 [13]
In the wake of Nicki and Taylor's original exchange, Katy Perry chimed in [14] on Wednesday, calling out Taylor and fueling rumors of their alleged feud [15] by tweeting, "Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman." On Thursday, Ed Sheeran defended Taylor [16] in an interview, saying, "I think everyone knows that Taylor has done nothing wrong in that situation. She didn't nominate herself for the awards. It's not her fault, she just made some good videos and people think they're good."