Nicki Minaj fires up at Miley Cyrus while accepting the Best Hip Hop Video trophy at the MTV Video Music Awards. Photo/Getty
Nicki Minaj fires up at Miley Cyrus while accepting the Best Hip Hop Video trophy at the MTV Video Music Awards. Photo/Getty
An on-stage flare up between host Miley Cyrus and award winner Nicki Minaj was "very real" says a source.
Minaj's VMA acceptance speech for hip-hop video of the year took an unexpected turn when she hit out at Cyrus in spectacular fashion.
"And now back to this b**** that had a lot to say about me in the press," Minaj said, staring at Cyrus from across the stage and angrily saying: "Miley? What's good?"
Cyrus looked visably rattled by the attack and tried to smooth things over by responding: "We're all in this industry, we all do interviews and we all know how they manipulate ... Nicki, congratulations".
However, Minaj appeared unimpressed by Cyrus' explanation. Minaj's microphone was cut off, but the camera showed her mouthing a sentence that appeared to include the word "b****".
Some fans suggested their feud was staged for the sake of the ceremony, but a source told Us Weekly that Minaj's anger "was very real and not a pre-planned bit at all."
Staff at MTV were reportedly so worried about the pair's feud that they did everything to ensure the two singers never crossed each other's paths after the onstage spat.
The source added to Us Weekly: "[They] had to be sure Nicki and Miley didn't cross paths for the rest of the evening because they were legitimately worried about a confrontation happening."
The incident related to comments Cyrus' made in response to Minaj's Twitter rant about being over looked for the prestigious Video of the Year award.
Miley Cyrus arrives at the MTV Video Music Awards. Photo/AP
At the time Minaj claimed she would have been nominated if she was a "different kind of artist" and said: "Black women influence pop culture so much but are rarely rewarded for it (sic)".
The comments sparked a response from Swift, who is nominated in the Video of the Year category, and felt Minaj was taking aim at her.
Cyrus, speaking to the New York Times newspaper, said: "What I read sounded very Nicki Minaj, which, if you know Nicki Minaj is not too kind. It's not very polite.
"I think there's a way you speak to people with openness and love. You don't have to start this pop star against pop star war. It became Nicki Minaj and Taylor in a fight, so now the story isn't even on what you wanted it to be about."
Cyrus, 22, believed that Nicki made the argument about herself - due to her Anaconda video being slighted - rather than making a statement for fellow African-American pop stars.
She added: "If you want to make it about race, there's a way you could do that. But don't make it just about yourself.
Nicki Minaj performs at the MTV Video Music Awards, shortly before her spat with Miley Cyrus erupted on stage. Photo/Getty
"If you do things with an open heart and you come at things with love, you would be heard and I would respect your statement. But I don't respect your statement because of the anger that came with it.
"And it's not anger like, 'Guys, I'm frustrated about some things that are a bigger issue.'
"You made it about you. Not to sound like a bitch, but that's like, 'Eh, I didn't get my VMA.' "
