Nicki Minaj Defends ‘Anaconda’ Album Art, Questions Double Standard
When Nicki Minaj first released the racy album art for her new single “Anaconda,” where she was wearing very little more than a thong, there was bound to be some controversy and criticism. Folks all over social media went nuts, photoshopping the pic like crazy to humorous effect, while news sites like The Guardian questioned the photo’s appropriateness. Minaj, however, took to Twitter and laughed off all the criticism. She stood by the picture and its integrity, instead jabbing at the more “acceptable” photos from the media.
A series of tweets linked to other pictures that Minaj believes to be acceptable by the general media (warning: the photos are mildly NSFW), many of which were models shot in bathing suits for Sports Illustrated:
Acceptable http://t.co/7gsOAbxTdd
— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 25, 2014
Acceptable http://t.co/tfXTjEcq4u — PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 25, 2014
Acceptable http://t.co/tBD5Piaoj3
— PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 25, 2014
Angelic. Acceptable. Lol http://t.co/5jRc3g2OB9 — PillsNPotions (@NICKIMINAJ) July 25, 2014
After the series of “acceptable” posts, Minaj then posted the photo of her album art with the comment “Unacceptable” on it. When putting it like that, it does seem a bit strange that Minaj is singled out as such.
Interestingly enough, it doesn’t stop there. The final “acceptable” tweet the bunch included a photo of none other than Christine Teigen, wife of John Legend. Teigen had managed to stumble across the photo while on Twitter, and posted in response to the “acceptable” comment:
I WILL TAKE ACCEPTABLE RT “@NICKIMINAJ: Angelic. Acceptable. Lol http://t.co/LePgAezLK0”
— christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) July 25, 2014
landed, saw she posted our cover, called our a**es acceptable. Which I took as a compliment as I know I have no a**. Now pure entertainment. — christine teigen (@chrissyteigen) July 25, 2014
Clearly, Teigen has a sense of humor about the entire matter. In fact, none of the celebrities involved–including Nicki Minaj–seem to be taking any of the criticism or drama too seriously. They all seem to be laughing it off and just making a good time of it all, which is a refreshing turn on something like this.
All joking aside, however, Minaj does make valid points regarding a double standard of some sort. Does the media seem to give a pass to magazines like Sports Illustrated on this front? If so, then why? Is it because Sports Illustrated has been doing their thing for so long that it has become accepted, or maybe something else?
Thoughts on Nicki Minaj’s album art? Is it really any more unacceptable than the material Sports Illustrated puts out on a yearly basis, or is there in fact some weird double standard going on?
