After singer Jesy Nelson received backlash for blackfishing, Nicki Minaj is coming to her defense, Complex reports.
The pair collaborated on the release of Nelson's new song "Boyz."
One of Nelson's former Little Mix bandmates, Leigh-Anne Pinnock, allegedly chimed in, saying that the singer had blocked her and two others.
Despite the accusations, Minaj stood up for the British singer during an Instagram Live, referencing DMs from Pinnock.
"If you want a solo career baby just say that… If that's how you felt, why were you kiki'ing with her & being in videos with her for 10 years?" Minaj asked. "Sweetheart, take them text messages and shove it up your f**king ass."
"When you do clown s**t, I gotta treat you and talk to you like you a clown. [You] don't have to come out and try to ruin anyone. Let her enjoy this time," the rapper continued.
Minaj continued in her rant, taking up for Nelson.
"So all these reality stars y'all worship with big lips and tans are okay, but Jesy's where y'all draw the line huh?" Minaj quipped. "I can name a couple other singers in the U.S. that tan just as much as this. Y'all always tryna find something."
In her latest interview with Vulture, Nelson addressed rumors that she's looking to be more racially ambiguous by adding fillers and showing off a tan after parting ways with Little Mix in December, telling the outlet that she was "just 100% being myself."
"The whole time I was in Little Mix I never got any of that. And then I came out of (the band) and people all of a sudden were saying it," she said.
Nelson was one-fourth of the girl group Little Mix. According to The Guardian, Nelson said she left the band due to the constant ridicule she faced over her looks in comparison to the other girls. "Boyz" serves as her first single as a solo artist.
"I wasn't on social media around that time, so I let my team (deal with it) because that was when I'd just left. But I mean, like, I love Black culture. I love Black music. That's all I know; it's what I grew up on. I'm very aware that I'm a white British woman; I've never said that I wasn't," she added.
Nelson also denied having any knowledge of accounts being blocked on any of her social media platforms.
"I don't know about that. Maybe it was my team," she told the outlet.
Vulture mentions in an editor's note that her publicist later confirmed that her team blocked the accounts and deleted negative comments under her posts. Nelson also added more to her statements in a follow-up email.
"I take all those comments made seriously. I would never intentionally do anything to make myself look racially ambiguous, so that's why I was initially shocked that the term was directed at me," she said.
This isn't the first time she's opened up about the criticism. She also addressed the comments in a previous interview with The Guardian.
"I would never want to offend anyone, and that was really upsetting," she told the publication, adding that she was shocked to see the comments. "I wasn't aware that's how people felt."
Fans have been making comments speculating what parts of her seem to emulate characteristics of other ethnicities and races.