Nicki Minaj apologises for Nazi-style video: 'It was inspired by Cartoon Network'
The singer said she would 'never condone Nazism' in her art
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Nicki Minaj has apologised after her new video was criticised for glorifying Nazism.
The lyric video for new single “Only” depicts the singer as a Fuehrer-like dictator leading thousands of soldiers armed with tanks and guns.
But Minaj claims the video was inspired by film franchise Sin City and a cartoon called Metalocalypse seen on Cartoon Network.
She added that producer A Loucas, who oversaw the video, is Jewish.
In a series of posts on Twitter, she said: “I didn’t come up with the concept, but I’m very sorry and take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I’d never condone Nazism in my art.
“Both the producer and person in charge of overseeing the lyric video (one of my best friends & videographer: A Loucas), happen to be Jewish.
“The artist who made the lyric video for ‘Only’ was influenced by a cartoon on Cartoon Network called ‘Metalocalypse’ and Sin City.”
The video, which was released two days before the 76th anniversary of Kristallnacht, has been condemned by the Anti-Defamation League in the US.
“This video is insensitive to Holocaust survivors and a trivialisation of the history of that era,” the group’s director Abraham H Foxman said in a statement.
But the video’s director Jeff Osborne has refused to apologise for the video, which he said also references a number of recognisable American symbols as well as Russian T-90 tanks, a Belgian FN FAL rifle and an Italian Ferrari.
He told MySpace: “As far as an explanation, I think it is actually important to remind younger generations of atrocities that occurred in the past as a way to prevent them from happening in the future. And the most effective way of connecting with people today is through social media and pop culture.”