October 7, 2015 8:42 AM EDT
W hen Nicki Minaj called out Miley Cyrus at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards for disparaging comments the pop star made about her a few days before the ceremony, Minaj stole the show (and inspired a whole line of Etsy products ) with a single line: “And now back to this b-tch that had a lot to say about me the other day in the press—Miley, what’s good?”
Now, the “Anaconda” rapper is explaining why she did it.
In a new interview with the New York Times Magazine , Minaj addresses the summer drama that seemed to involve all of the year’s biggest pop stars. First, Minaj’s “Anaconda” video did not receive a Video of the Year nomination from MTV, which inspired Minaj tweet about how the show only “celebrates women with very slim bodies” and inconsistently acknowledges the cultural contributions of black women. (Beyoncé did receive a nomination in that category, however.)
Then, Taylor Swift interpreted Minaj’s comments as a personal attack and accused Minaj of “pit[ting] women against each other.” Swift later apologized, and the two went on to patch things up and kick off the VMAs together—but not before Cyrus (not to mention Katy Perry ) weighed in on the incident. Cyrus told the Times a few days before the awards show that Minaj’s complaints were “not polite” and “just about [her]self,” even after the reporter conducting the interview tried to explain the larger cultural critique Minaj was making. Cyrus didn’t back down, though, which of course led to the shade-thrown-’round-the-world.
Here’s what Minaj, addressing Cyrus, had to say about the confrontation to the magazine:
“The fact that you feel upset about me speaking on something that affects black women makes me feel like you have some big balls. You’re in videos with black men, and you’re bringing out black women on your stages, but you don’t want to know how black women feel about something that’s so important? Come on, you can’t want the good without the bad. If you want to enjoy our culture and our lifestyle, bond with us, dance with us, have fun with us, twerk with us, rap with us, then you should also want to know what affects us, what is bothering us, what we feel is unfair to us. You shouldn’t not want to know that.”
[NYT ]
See the Evolution of Miley Cyrus Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus on Oct. 8, 1994 at Pyramid Arena in Memphis. Ron Galella, Ltd.—WireImage/Getty Images Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus in New York City on Feb. 9, 2006. Paul Hawthorne—Getty Images Vanessa Hudgens and Miley Cyrus in Los Angeles on Apr. 30, 2006. Steve Granitz—WireImage/Getty Images Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus at the 41st Annual Academy of Country Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 23, 2006. Kevin Winter—Getty Images Miley Cyrus in Westwood, Calif., on July 17, 2006. Vince Bucci—Getty Images Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana in the Disney Channel series Hannah Montana on Nov. 2, 2008. Disney Miley Cyrus in New York City on Oct. 23, 2006. Peter Kramer—Getty Images Miley Cyrus and Ashley Tisdale on MTV's TRL in New York City on June 20, 2006. Michael Loccisano—FilmMagic/Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs as Hannah Montana in Uniondale, N.Y., on Dec. 27, 2007. Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 24, 2008. Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton in an episode of Disney's Hannah Montana on Dec. 7, 2007. Disney/Getty Images Miley Cyrus celebrates her 16th birthday during the 2008 American Music Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 23, 2008. Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift perform onstage at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 8, 2009. John Shearer—WireImage/Getty Images Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus in the 2009 film Hannah Montana: The Movie . Disney Tish, Miley and Billy Ray Cyrus at the 66th Annual Golden Globe Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 11, 2009. NBC/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 31, 2010. Larry Busacca—Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs onstage during the 2009 Teen Choice Awards held at Gibson Amphitheatre in Universal City, Calif., on Aug. 9, 2009. Kevin Winter—Fox/Getty Images Miley Cyrus and Sheryl Crow on stage at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York City on Sept. 17, 2009. Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs at the 21st Annual MuchMusic Video Awards in Toronto on June 20, 2010. George Pimentel—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the 2009 VH1 Divas in New York City on Sept. 17, 2009. Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images Miley Cyrus and Justin Bieber perform at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Aug. 31, 2010. Kevin Mazur—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs on an episode of ABC's Dancing with the Stars on May 2010. Adam Larkey—ABC/Getty Images Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth in the 2010 film The Last Song . Touchstone Pictures Miley and Tish Cyrus at The 53rd Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 13, 2011. Lester Cohen—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the 2012 People's Choice Awards in Los Angeles on Jan. 11, 2012. Frazer Harrison—Getty Images Liam Hemsworth and Miley Cyrus at the 2012 Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Los Angeles on Feb. 26, 2012. Christopher Polk—VF/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 20, 2012. Denise Truscello—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the 2012 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sept. 6, 2012. Christopher Polk—Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs during 2012 VH1 Divas in Los Angeles on Dec. 16, 2012. Kevin Winter—Getty Images Miley Cyrus poses with fans in London on July 18, 2013. Ben Pruchnie—FilmMagic/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the Fashion Group International's 30th annual "Night Of Stars" awards gala in New York City on Oct. 22, 2013. Evan Agostini—Invision/AP Miley Cyrus performs on NBC's Today show on Oct. 7, 2013 in New York City. NBC/Getty Images Miley Cyrus dances at Compound Entertainment and Malibu Red Grammy Midnight Brunch at Bagatelle/STK in Los Angeles on Feb. 9, 2013. Johnny Nunez—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus attends the "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 6, 2013. Stephen Lovekin—FilmMagic/Getty Images Miley Cyrus arrives at the 2013 Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas on May 19, 2013. Jon Kopaloff—FilmMagic/Getty Images Miley Cyrus attends Rachel Zoe during Fall 2013 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center in New York City on Feb. 13, 2013. Jamie McCarthy—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the SiriusXM Studios in New York City on June 27, 2013. Slaven Vlasic—Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards in New York City on Aug. 25, 2013. Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images Robin Thicke and Miley Cyrus perform during the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards at Barclays Center in New York City on Aug. 25, 2013. Rick Diamond—Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs at the 2013 American Music Awards in Los Angeles on Nov. 24, 2013. Christopher Polk—Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs at the Time Square's New Year's Eve 2014 ball drop celebration in New York City on Dec. 31, 2013. Steve Mack—FilmMagic/Getty Image Miley Cyrus at the 56th annual Grammy Awards Pre-Grammy Gala in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 2014. Jeffrey Mayer—WireImage/Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs during Miley Cyrus: MTV Unplugged in Los Angeles on Jan. 28, 2014. Christopher Polk—Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs at Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, N.Y., on Aug. 1, 2014. Taylor Hill—FilmMagic/Getty Images Miley Cyrus and Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips perform in Los Angeles on Feb. 22, 2014. Jeff Kravitz—FilmMagic/Getty Images Miley Cyrus at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards in Inglewood, Calif., on Aug. 24, 2014. Mario Anzuoni—Reuters Miley Cyrus and My Friend's Place representative Jesse Helt at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards in Inglewood, Calif., on Aug. 24, 2014. Christopher Polk—Getty Images Miley Cyrus walks with Jeremy Scott after a presentation of his Spring/Summer 2015 collection during New York Fashion Week on Sept. 10, 2014. Lucas Jackson—Reuters Miley Cyrus attends the "China: Through The Looking Glass" Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City on May 4, 2015 . Dimitrios Kambouris—Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs onstage during the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 30, 2015 in Los Angeles. Michael Tran—FilmMagic/Getty Images Miley Cyrus hosts the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards on Aug. 30, 2015 in Los Angeles. Michael Tran—Getty Images Miley Cyrus performs on Saturday Night Live in New York City on Oct. 3, 2015. Dana Edelson—Getty Images Honoree Miley Cyrus accepts the Vanguard Award at the Los Angeles LGBT Center 46th Anniversary Gala Vanguard Awards on Nov. 7, 2015 in Century City, Calif. Joe Scarnici—Getty Images Miley Cyrus on The Voice on Feb. 4, 2016. 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