Nicki Minaj highlights the double standards for black women when it comes to nudity

The rapper criticised Sharon Osbourne for condemning her 'Anaconda' artwork yet praising Kim Kardashian's nude selfie: 'So it wasn't trashy and raunchy when a white woman did it but it was when a black woman did it?'

(Christopher Polk/Getty Images for A+E Networks)

Nicki Minaj has condemned the double standards black women face when it comes to nudity and suggested some of the positive reactions to Kim Kardashian West's internet-breaking nude selfie would not have happened if she was black.

The rapper criticised Sharon Osbourne, in particular, in praising Kardashian West for her nude selfie earlier this year but slamming Minaj’s iconic cover art for her single “Anaconda” in 2014.

Discussing the artwork, The X-Factor judge reportedly said at the time on The Talk: “This looks like a cheap porno cover of a DVD… I love women’s bodies. I love nudity, but this is cheap.”

Minaj has now hit out at the criticism and said her fans called out Osbourne’s “hypocrisy” when a couple of years later she shared her own nude selfie after finding Kardashian-West’s “inspiring”.

“When Kim Kardashian’s naked picture came out [Sharon Osbourne] praised it and my fans attacked her for being such a hypocrite,” she told Marie Claire. “So it wasn’t trashy and raunchy when a white woman did it but it was when a black woman did it?

“It’s quite pathetic and sad but that is my reality and I’ve gotten accustomed to just shutting it down.”

The reaction to Kardashian West’s now infamous selfie was certainly not unified as she received a backlash from some including Piers Morgan and Chloe Grace Moretz. However, others such as Ariel Winter supported her for rightfully and unashamedly expressing her sexuality as a woman. Emily Ratajkowski and Osbourne went further by tweeting their own naked selfie in a message of solidarity.

After, Minaj’s artwork and video for "Anaconda" was released it was widely deemed “raunchy” by many commentators and media outlets. At the time, Minaj posted a series pictures of white models, including Kate Upton and Lily Aldridge, showing their bottoms, just as she had done, pointing out that they were considered “acceptable”.

When "Anaconda" failed to be nominated for the MTV video of the year at the VMAs despite becoming so iconic it sparked memes, parodies and Halloween outfits, Minaj claimed it was because of the body types depicted in her video.

This led to a spat with Taylor Swift who assumed Minaj was talking about her video for "Bad Blood", one containing various members of her squad, which went on to win the award. Swift later apologised to Minaj for “misunderstanding and misspeaking” as it became apparent Minaj was trying to open up a discourse about race in the music industry.