Rapper and songwriter Nicki Minaj apologized on Twitter for a new music video that contains Nazi imagery.
“I didn’t come up w/the concept, but I’m very sorry & take full responsibility if it has offended anyone,” Minaj tweeted Tuesday to her 18.3 million followers. “I’d never condone Nazism in my art.”
In the video for “Only,” which has received 2 million views on YouTube, a Minaj animation marches through scores of soldiers and large red banners with an insignia said to resemble a swastika. It sparked outrage upon its release last week.
The Anti-Defamation League, which wrote in a news release Monday that it was “deeply disturbed” by the video, said it accepted Minaj’s apology.
US rapper Nicki Minaj poses for pictures after being awarded the title ‘Best Hip Hop Artist’ during the 2014 MTV Europe Music Awards (EMA) in Glasgow, Scotland, on November 9, 2014 (photo credit: AFP/ OLI SCARFF)
“We are pleased that Nicki Minaj has taken full responsibility for the video and recognized that it was indeed offensive,” said Abraham Foxman, the ADL’s national director, in a statement issued Tuesday. “Her clear renunciation of Nazism is an important step.”
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In the earlier release, the ADL said the video “evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop culture’s exploitation of Nazi symbolism.”
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