Steven Tyler may not be long out of the American Idol judge chair, but that doesn't mean that he's averse to criticizing his replacements. So much so in fact, that he is already in hot water for comments he has made with regard to Nicki Minaj. In an interview earlier this week, Tyler stated that talent "needs to be birthed, not judged by 'entertainment' factors, it needs to be judged by people that [are] honest, true, that have the 'it' factor" before going on to state that Minaj probably wouldn't be able to recognize the next Bob Dylan:
"These kids, they just got out of a car from the Midwest somewhere and they're in New York City, they're scared to death; you're not going to get the best [out of them]. If it was Bob Dylan, Nicki Minaj would have had him sent to the cornfield!"
Minaj was evidently none too happy about the statement, accusing Steven Tyler of making racist remarks:
"You assume that I wouldn't have liked Bob Dylan??? why? black? rapper? what? go f--k yourself and worry about yourself babe,"
Now, Tyler has taken to Canadian entertainment show ETalk to apologize, although the singer has refuted Minaj's claims that his words were racially motivated: "I apologize if it was taken wrong, Nicki. I'm the last thing on this planet as far as being a racist. I was just saying that if Bob Dylan came on the show, he would've been thrown off. Maybe I spoke out of turn, but a racist I'm not, Nicki."
Tyler is not the first person to have hit out at Minaj. Last month, Stevie Nicks stated that she would "strangle the singer" during an interview, a comment for which she latterly apologized.
Do you think Tyler is a racist? Or has Minaj misread his statement? Let us know in the comments.
Technically, intelligence is putting knowledge to good use and intellect is simply knowing a lot of things, so the two words do carry different connotations. Nikki Minaj demonstrates neither quality, nor does she show any signs of meaningful mental activity.
Butt implants-- There are no reasons for this. None.
Technically speaking, Bob Dylan is a pretty bad singer (even his fans admit that) and what makes him special is his incredible songwriting abilities.
Therefore, it makes sense to say that if Bob Dylan auditioned for American Idol he wouldn't be placed on the show. A better comparison would be someone like Freddie Mercury, Marvin Gaye, or Tim Buckley.
I wonder if there are still people who remember Tim Buckley. I don't think many of the "omg hallelujah is my favorite song"-people know he was the father of Jeff Buckley
Tim Buckley was badass (up until he started sounding like a deaf guy at the start of the 70's imo). Song To The Siren, Once I Was, Sing A Song For You, and Morning Glory were AMAZING.
The irony is that when Jeff's first album was released people promoted it by saying he was the son of a great musician. Now, they promote him by simply saying the word 'Hallelujah'.
i think they're both excellent singers/songwriters, but while Tim had more underground appeal, Jeff had more mainstream appeal.
Tin Buckley was pretty shit...but Tim Buckley was awesome and just as good as Jeff if not better. He had a larger body of work and despite the fact he died younger than Jeff, Jeff could only manage one studio album before he died at age 30.
Well Nicki Minaj probably shouldn't be judging a singing competition, because she doesn't sing. She raps, and she still needs autotune to do that. Plus she doesn't seem very smart either.
She knew what he meant but decided to try and play the race card to make him look bad. He's right though and she has no decent defense to it so her only comeback was to accuse him of being racist.
exactly, i mean... Steven was on the same damn show with Randy Jackson. Nicki Manaj is a waste. Worst decision making her a judge. Ever. As if i even watch that show.
Dont EVER compare Jynx Maze with Nicki Minaj.
At least Jynx Maze can fake a performance in bed....
Nicki Minaj cant fake a performance to save her soul.
I wasn't comparing... I mean, I can't fap to someone who wears make up enough to look like a clown who has been working for a russian circus for 30 years.
Oh man I just left this comment as a reply to a comment further up and now I look like a big fat phoney who copied this comment. I commend you for getting there first.
Ok so I was wondering how the hell did the 1st comment didn't get the medal and as I scrolled down and read this I just about fell of my damn chair lol. Touché!
"You assume that I wouldn't have liked Bob Dylan??? why? black? rapper?"
No Nicki. Talent, Longevity, Depth.
There is more to Bob Dylan than a credibility name drop among mainstream personalities. If she even had a basic idea who the man is, she'd be offended at Tyler's intended jab instead of dragging out the dead mule of racism.
Seriously, that's the funniest part - She's getting angry because she thinks that he's making a racist remark... when in reality he's pointing out the fact that she's a moron who knows nothing about music.
Yea I call BS on Nicki's end. Tyler's cornfield remark was in connection to his previous remark about being a kid from the midwest. Maybe if she stepped out of that candyland, overproduced pop bubble of hers she could see that.
We're far from a post racial society, but in this instance, the remark was not a racist one.
I would've never apologized to that "stupid ho" (see what i did there?)
Would've told her to read what I said again and see if I ever mentioned her being a (terribad) rapper or black, and then get back to me.
If they want racist to stop so bad, maybe they should stop assuming every white person is a racist in the first place.
Honestly, its not a suprise that a reply like that would come from a person with the level of intelligence of Minaj. She is a person who can't analize a simple sentence like the one from Steven, he is talking about experience and Minaj thinks its about racism.
The worst thing, on top that Minaj should be nominated to the Facepalm award of the year, is that she is being an Icon for the youth arround the world, along with Beiber and others, and she is giving this kind of example to them. In fact, I can even tell that not even Justin would have given a reply like that, since I want to believe, that he is a little smarter than Nicki.
The aftermath of this can be predicted from miles away, she will keep bashing Tyler, and her fans will bash him and anything related to his work blidnly, without knowing a single thing about his carreer or experience in the music business.
This is, is just another notorious proof of the state of music, and culture these days.
only one person seems hung up on race and makes assumptions based on skin colour and it's not tyler.
people do seem to be missing the point, that there's not way on god's green earth that dylan would go anywhere near a talent show like american idol. he'd play crappy clubs and hone his craft.
Race aside, she wouldn't realize talent because she has none. It is hard to judge another persons talent when the judge themselves has none to base it off of. I'm with Steven on this one.
She's only there for the ratings anyway, her lunacy brings in the views. This is the same woman that threatened to shoot Mariah Carey "with a gun". Derp.
She's tragically inept, and a disgusting person to boot.
Seriously? Who cares about Nicki M, she will be irrelevant to music in less than a decade like so many pop and hip hop artists we see today. The fact that Steve actually made a public comment about her is probably going to be the high point of her career.
So... why did he have to apologise? I get that he doesn't want to appear racist, but surely the fact that he didn't make a single racist remark in his comment already proves that. Why justify her comment with an apology, it'll only generate more news such as... this article.
Bob Dylan was a terrible example. I would have sent Dylan home from a sining competition. Now if it was a competition to see how well you could write a song for someone else to sing, then Bobby would have won in a heartbeat
Steven Tyler made no race remark as far as I can see - to me, for someone to use the race card puts one race back a step, he really means that because of her single tracked musical taste, no-one else other than an "urban" artists would make it under her. Wait, didn't Tyler work with Run-DMC?
If I was Steven Tyler, I would tell her to go f*ck her self, get some basic education and learn how to sing without autotune
I can't stand people like that. just because he's saying things against her, that makes him racist. She can **** off, she's making me wanting to become racist
Thats an easy response, rather than argue with her achievements as an artist (I know there are few but still, sold more records than most last year) and pointing out that Tyler's day has been and gone, she plays the race card. Really garners respect that.
I wonder how many people are re-reading Steven Tyler's remark and trying to figure out how someone could possibly find anything racist about it.
I know I'm stumped...
Racist? that stupid talentless bimbo isn't even black. Not only that, but shes extremely ignorant to automatically throw out the "RACIST!" card. Of course nobody listens to nick and thinks, wow, with lyrics like, "I shitted on him", "My ass and my anus are finally famous", its not hard to believe that she doesn't know what good songwriting is. She needs to date chris brown or something.
Typical. Older white man criticizes young black woman for something that has absolutely nothing to do with skin color. But wait, he CRITICIZED HER! RACIST! RACIST! RACIST!
jesus i really dont know what to say except:
1)how niky minge got tyler as a racist from his comment is beyond me
2)show some respect to someone thats been in the music industry before you was born little girl. i think he knows what he is talking about
Given what he said which was in no way racist. Maybe Niki should turn her finger and point it in her face. After all she start the race card first, everyone else in this story has managed to look past skin color and not even think about it. But not nutty Niki.
Nicki Minaj is just accusing him because she just wants to be as good at making music as he is. If she was a REAL artist, she wouldn't have to accuse anyone of anything.
If Steven was black,Nicki Minaj would not have made that comment. She's just angry cause she didn't want to ask Steven to define "music" for her. 'Cause she sure as hell doesn't know what it is.
"Nicki has no musical integrity. She is vocally inept and her appearance has been entirely created by cosmetic surgery. She is no judge of talent and the mere fact that her body itself is hyperbolic tells me that she's more concerned with appearance than actual talent. She is the end result of the late 90s and early millenium when appearance began to matter more than actual ability."
Not that Steven Tyler can sing anymore, either, but I trust his opinions more than some overrated and entirely talentless exaggeration of what the ideal woman is (who she's ideal for, I don't know, man. I just don't know). And she couldn't even refute me by claiming this is the "real" her because she was entirely aware of what she was doing when she went under the knife.
Anyone else think that pulling the race card when race hadn't been adressed at all prior to the accusation is a little inherently racist..? In my mind I can't help but think "Well you took it there, not me.." when people say that kind of thing.
It bugs the hell out of me too. If 1 person says something bad about another person, and they're 2 different races, its considered a race issue somehow.
I think her statement is actually racist. If Bill Cosby or Sydney Portier made this statement instead of Tyler, she wouldnt of said anything about race. She's treating the situation differently because of the color of someones skin....which is a pretty racist thing to do.
Not that Steven Tyler is exactly the most sane man ever, he is in the right here. And yes, I'm not saying anything new or original but its Nicki ****ing Minaj. There isn't anything original to say aside from she's so damn unattractive.
american idol doesnt even care about voice in the first place. the way they pick is if you have a semi-decent voice and the "look". that's all that they care about
I love this...wtf does finding the next Bob Dylan have to do with being black? Someone has some personal issues they need to work on. Take her to the woodshed Steven.
I think she's just trying to play the race card to get attention. He's probably right, if Bobby were to walk on that stage in this day he'd probably end up like that shitty asian singer from a few years ago.
"Bob Dylan??? why? black? rapper? what?" - no no nicky, Bob Dylan is not black rapper, you must be thinking of Jay-z or or some other guy. Dylan is a famous singer - songwriter. haha, but seriously, I had no clue she is "black", nor "rapper", to me she seriously looks just like a bit overtanned lady gaga wannabe that simply lacks her singing ability and that's why she just talks instead. when it comes to her skin colour I seriously know "white" girls that are darker than her. maybe she's just using too much make up and if she does it seems like she wants to be whiter - so if anyone's racist, it's her. Do not get me wrong, I am actually a sort of "reverse racist" - to me there is nothing hotter than dark skin on women, either it's african/american, asian or hispanic. And one more thing - I really hate when some people do this - you disagree with them and you are racist, sexist, etc etc - no, how about I just disagree with you because of what you say or do, not because where you come from or what you look like.
The difference between Steven Tyler and Nicki Minaj is that one can write music and sing on key and the other one can't. Even though a good portion of Steven's fans didn't want him on Idol, he is far more qualified to be a singing talent judge than that...thing.
And I know Tyler is not a racist. He has never said anything racist before that I know of and he makes it clear in his book that he is repulsed by racism. She has no case here.
I feel like she had nothing legitimate to come back with and decided to call him a racist to try and prevent him from saying anything else. The comment was not race related at all, it was talent related. Tyler was saying that she has no talent and it takes one with talent to recognize talent
I personally do not see how this is racial. Minaj clearly did not like the comment, and rather than respond back with anything valid, she turned it racial because Tyler used the word field. I mean, come on, it's not like he told her to go to the cotton field. Criticism happens. If she had any professionalism she'd take it in stride and do her job.
I couldn't help but laugh, even if Steven Tyler was racist, since when do we consider anything said by someone as invalid as Nicki Minaj important enough to be made a judge on American idol anyways? let alone music for that matter.
Ahhh, the race card. Last way out for a hack who wants someone to take back something mean.
Does not this vapid... creature.. understand that every petty attempt to throw accusations of racism on someone innocent takes away from legitimate claims of racism?
Why do black people always bring their colour into something and try use it against people? She's just a dumb bitch. No-one was judging her by her race. It never even occurred to ANYONE.
I don't see how it's racist. He didn't say "That nigger would send him to the cornfield." He said nothing about her skin color. And Tyler definintly doesn't hate rap seeing that he was in a RAP SONG! XD
Obviously she didn't even understand his comment and just pulled the race card without him even giving any mention of race. Then again, she's as intelligent as much as she's had cosmetic surgery.
She probably didn't know who Bob Dylan was until she looked him up on Wikipedia 10 minutes after Steven Tyler said what he said. But really? Playing the race card? It seems like noting today can be said without the race card being played.
nicki minaj is quite possibly the best rapper out there right now, i dont understand the hate. and she does too sing just look up Superbass it's like all singing practically.
