Nicki Minaj has come under fire after releasing a new lyric video for “Only” that appears heavily inspired by Nazi imagery.
The animated lyric video was directed by Jeff Osborne and features animated dictator Minaj alongside featured artists Drake as the Pope, Chris Brown as a war general and Lil Wayne as a CEO type. The video jumps between characters as the lyrics flash across the screen.
"Only" lyric video
As soon as it was released, “Only” attracted criticism for its usage of Nazi imagery. In the video, dictator Minaj watches on as her mass army stands still in front of her, wearing bright red armbands with the Young Money Entertainment emblem that heavily resembles a swastika.
The imagery angered many fans, with some even calling for Minaj to take the video off YouTube.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) also released a statement on the video, saying that the group was “deeply disturbed” by the video.
“Nicki Minaj’s new video disturbingly evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop culture’s exploitation of Nazi symbolism….This video is insensitive to Holocaust survivors and a trivialization of the history of that era. The abuse of Nazi imagery is deeply disturbing and offensive to Jews and all those who can recall the sacrifices Americans and many others had to make as a result of Hitler’s Nazi juggernaut,” said ADL National Director and Holocaust survivor Abraham H. Foxman in a statement.
Neither Minaj nor Osborne has responded to the backlash, though Osborne has been re-tweeting it on his official Twitter page.
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