Taylor Swift & Nicki Minaj Aren't "Feuding"

Have a few minutes to kill? Google "Taylor Swift and Nicki Minaj feud" and marvel at the fact that no fewer than 9 million results pop up. Considering how they are two of the most famous entertainers on the planet, this wouldn't ordinarily be shocking — if they were actually feuding. But they're not. In reality, Minaj expressed her disappointment and anger at MTV and society for, she claims, favoring music videos that celebrate "women with very slim bodies" after the MTV 2015 Music Video Award nominations were announced and "Anaconda" was overlooked when it came to the Video of the Year noms. Swift, perhaps feeling defensive because she is a woman with a very slim body who scored nine nominations, responded. Not with anger or vitriol — just with a response.

You could argue that Swift shouldn't have responded at all. Minaj didn't call her out, didn't mention her by name, didn't write one word (other than "skinny," which describes 99 percent of women on MTV) that indicated the "Bad Blood" singer was on her mind at the time. And even if Swift was in her thoughts — even if she was the entire inspiration behind Minaj's rant — this still doesn't mean Minaj was attacking Swift. The rapper was taking aim at an industry that she feels favors one type — slender, young, Caucasian — over all others. Swift is talented and deserves her fame, but she's kidding herself if she doesn't acknowledge the privilege her appearance affords her. In a perfect and ideal world, as Minaj attempted to point out, dress size or the width of one's derriere would have absolutely nothing to do with music video nominations.

Anyway, back to the word "feud" — the most overused word on the Internet. Rather than Real Housewives-ify every public discussion that takes place between two famous women, the media should portray this in a more honest, less sensational fashion. Swift felt insulted and overreacted by responding as if Minaj's jab was meant for her. But her response was totally logical and sane:

As was Minaj's tweet back:

What am I missing here? Where's the feud, which is defined as "a bitter, often prolonged quarrel or state of enmity, especially such a state of hostilities between two families or clans? Have Minaj and Swift's families secretly been waging war behind the scenes over a piece of property?

This is nothing but an assumption on Swift's part (hey, it happens), a reasonable reply by Minaj, and a great number of overreactions by people other than Minaj or Swift. It is not a feud and all women lose out when the assumption made is that women can only catfight and not discuss, debate, and overcome their differences.

Image: Giphy