Nicki Minaj defends Jesy Nelson over Blackfishing accusations

Nicki Minaj has defended Jesy Nelson following allegations of 'Blackfishing' against the former Little Mix star.

The US rapper - who has teamed up with Nelson for her debut solo single Boyz - took part in a joint Instagram live video in which she addressed claims Little Mix's Leigh-Anne Pinnock had accused her former bandmate of appropriating black culture.

Minaj said: "If I was rocking with you for 10 years and there was something so horrible about you and I kept on doing business with you and getting money with you for 10 years and then as soon as we part ways I'm texting people telling them to bring s**t up negative about you.

"Immediately that person has to wear a big red clown nose and big clown boots because you're a big f**ing clown."

The Bang Bang rapper is referring to leaked messages published in The Sun newspaper purporting to be from Pinnock accusing Nelson of being a 'Blackfish' - making oneself appear as if one has black heritage when they are in fact white.

Minaj went on: "There are lots of women out here in the United States that tan, get bigger lips, get all types of s**t done to themselves.

"I wear blond hair, straight blonde hair down to my feet if I want to when I want to, contacts, whatever, I do whatever the f**k I want.

"As long as you're not hurting anybody or speaking negative about anybody's race or culture, you should be able to enjoy your makeup, your body however you want to."

Nelson joined Minaj for the live video appearance on the social media platform but did not directly comment on the allegations, simply nodding along.

Minaj, 38, added: "It screams insecurity, it screams that you're jealous, only jealous people do things like this and now you just look like a big jealous bozo."

Nelson responded: "Thank you babe. Honestly that really means a lot."

The 30-year-old singer – who announced in December 2020 she was leaving Little Mix after nine years for the sake of her mental health - has been criticised by some for her appearance in the video for her new collaboration Boyz, with Nicki Minaji.

Nelson appears heavily tanned in the video with black and white braids in her bleached blond hair extensions.

The singer told Vulture that she had only started to be accused of Blackfishing since leaving the group, but claimed she was simply going back to her original look.

She said: "The whole time I was in Little Mix I never got any of that. And then I came out of [the band] and people all of a sudden were saying it. I wasn’t on social media around that time, so I let my team [deal with it], because that was when I’d just left.

"But I mean, like, I love Black culture. I love Black music. That’s all I know; it’s what I grew up on.

"I’m very aware that I’m a white British woman; I’ve never said that I wasn’t."