Nicki Minaj Duets With Taylor Swift to Open VMAs, Slams Miley Cyrus in Acceptance Speech

Photo via MTV’s Instagram

Nicki Minaj opened this year’s MTV Video Music Awards with a performance of “Trini Dem Girls” from her 2014 album The Pinkprint. And then… Taylor Swift came out for a surprise duet on “The Night Is Still Young” and her own “Bad Blood”. Watch video of the performance below.

Following the announcement of the nominees back in July, Minaj tweeted her disbelief and disappointment that “Anaconda” was not nominated for Video of the Year and that “Feeling Myself”, her collaboration with Beyoncé, was left out entirely. Minaj tweeted, “If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year.”

Swift took the message as a personal attack, responding, “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..” Ultimately, the two cleared the air, as Minaj clarified that she was not targeting anyone in particular, but rather making a general statement about racism and sexism in society.

Update 9:34pm: Nicki may have buried the hatchet with Taylor, but during her acceptance speech for Best Hip-Hop video for “Anaconda”, she took aim at Miley Cyrus, who is hosting the show. In an interview with The New York Times earlier this week, Miley took issue with Nicki’s complaints about “Anaconda” not being nominated.

Nicki fired back in her speech. “And now, back to this bitch who had a lot to say about me the other day in the press. Miley, what’s good?” she sneered. Miley attempted to say her comments were taken out of context, but Nicki wasn’t having it. 

.@NICKIMINAJ just killed it opening the #VMAs and so did her special guest! http://t.co/Xpl2djiKQ4

— MTV (@MTV) August 31, 2015

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