So, hey Nicki Minaj. It’s real talk time.
This is kind of an open letter because, honestly, I don’t feel like being all abstract and academic about what I see is a major fucking problem — a life-or-death kind of problem, in fact — and it seems more effective to just call you out by name. Because, seriously, you asked for it.
I remember when I heard you’d be on the cover of OUT magazine. It seemed premature to me — like a two-pronged desperate grab from a magazine that needed a new diva and a new diva that realized how valuable (read: profitable) the gay vote is to Lady Gaga — but I remembered something about how you came out as bisexual at one point, and I thought, well, OK!
But then I read the article — where all of the sudden you “may or may not be attracted to women” — and it began to feel like pandering. Like you wanted to be just bicurious enough to titillate straight men who watch porn and just bisexual enough to make the gays believe that, maybe, in you, we’d actually get our first out hip-hop star. Indeed, you had me excited for about thirteen seconds — until I watched a video interview you did for OUT in which they asked you the simplest of questions: What did you listen to when you were growing up?
You replied: “I remember George Michael.” And then you started singing “Karma Chameleon.”
This was your chance to be real, but you gave yourself away by ignoring the number-one rule of lying: Don’t offer so many details! You could have just stopped at George Michael, but you had to prove how much of a fan you really were by singing a fucking Boy George song. Which leads me to believe that you don’t like either artist very much, and confirms my suspicion that this whole thing was, in fact, a ruse to dupe gay men into buying your album. OUT used you, I know. But you used OUT.
That said, I’m not really mad at you for that. You’re a motherfucking monster according to one of your records, and a monster do what a monster’s gotta do. Or something like that. This letter is actually about “Roman’s Revenge,” and I’m sure you knew that going into this.
It wasn’t even two months ago that you hopped on the It Gets Better bandwagon with a message of hope for your gay fans:
I would encourage my gay fans to be fighters and to be brave. People face difficulties, no matter who you are. I faced difficulties with a lot of things. I face opposition every day, but I didn’t kill myself and now, thank God, I’m here. So I want my life to be a testimony to my … gay fans. I don’t agree that everyone should agree with everyone’s lifestyle. I think that some people aren’t going to agree, but I think that when you’re mean and when you ridicule people it’s a sign of your own insecurities. So shout out to all my Ken and Barbies out there and my girls too; just believe that things will get better and they will. They always do.
I promised real talk, so I’ll give you real talk: You have no fucking idea what you are talking about. I don’t know what your “difficulties” and “oppositions” look like, but I can definitely tell you something about the kinds of problems I had as a closeted gay teenager. Like the way I was literally scared to death of coming out when I was 16 years old because I knew — personally! — of at least three people who hung out within one degree of my social circle that went to jail for killing gay men. Think about that for a second: I personally know people who murdered people just like me, for being like me. I’m going to go out on a limb and say that you didn’t have that problem growing up.
But even still, that’s nothing compared to the psychological warfare perpetuated against young gay people every day. When I was a teenager in the New York City punk rock scene, I listened to loads of records with lyrics about how I was a worthless human being. Like that demo with the song “Faggot Stomp.” Or that Descendents song that had the lyrics, “You suck, Mr. Buttfuck / You don’t belong here.” Or that Bad Brains song that told me that the only way to stop AIDS was to stop gay people, and that the only way to stop gay people was to ask Jah for help. Even the first Beastie Boys album was going to be called Don’t Be A Faggot until someone with greater foresight intervened.
So back to you. Your new album features a duet with Eminem in which he offers the following lyric: “All you lil faggots can suck it / No homo, but I’mma stick it to ‘em like refrigerator magnets.”
Your OUT magazine-approved response, I’m sure, has already been prepared: That wasn’t Em, that was Slim Shady! That wasn’t Nicki, that was Roman Zolanski! We’re all a bunch of character rappers!
So before you go there, let me preempt you with some more real talk: That’s bullshit. It’s bullshit because young gay people do not really believe that Eminem or Nicki Minaj are a couple of functioning schizophrenics who rap for a living. If it were that easy, Clint McCance could have just told Anderson Cooper that his inhuman posts about queer youth were actually penned by Clint McFacebook — his homophobic alter-ego — and all would be forgiven. But that’s not how these things work.
These things work like this: Somebody is going to buy your album on November 23, and they are going to internalize a message about themselves that says they don’t belong, that they are less-than, that not even Nicki Minaj is brave enough to tell Eminem that their lives are worth something. That message will be placed on top of hundreds — maybe thousands — of other messages that, in their sheer volume, seem to drown out any notion of things ever getting any better. They will be driven to a brink of despair that I promise you, Nicki Minaj, you know nothing about.
So it’s late and I’m tired and I’m cursing a lot. But I can’t go to sleep without telling you that the jig is up. You are no better than 50 Cent. You are no better than the Game. And to some extent, they’re actually better than you. Because, hey — real talk! — not even Fiddy would go on the cover of the Advocate to sell gay people a record that calls them a bunch of little faggots. That would be fucked up.
Um thank you, for calling her out, (No pun Intended). Although I am not gay, i will say that she also raps derogatory things about black woman, her OWN race. Its unfortunate that she is famous…
Its not “hating” when it is true.
So you are retarded for a reason. Your parents are brothers.
I…cannot believe the . And he’s my age. Which is even scarier.
what the fuck
stupidity of this boy. key words. i like him. but he is a young boy..
Oh my god… please just drop off the face of the Earth, Beaver.
Okay, butting in to say that you are all just as stupid as he is. Clearly, this is a topic he is not comfortable with and clearly the interviewer asked it on purpose just to stir up controversy. I feel really bad that Bieber had to be asked this question, because he is obviously misinformed and not at all knowledgeable on this topic. And what’s more- It’s his goddamn opinion! He didn’t say “oh well they deserved to be raped”, he started it off with an “uhm”- which right there is the dead giveaway that he is uncomfortable with this question - and continued by admitting that it was sad.
What was he supposed to do? Write a sonnet on just how sad rape is?
Kindly leave this teenage pop star alone, because you all look like total jerks by bashing him.
^^^This
also rolling stone magazine just realized the full answer, where he says “… although i dont know how that would be a reason.”
A group of Christians showed up at a Chicago pride parade in July.
They were holding up signs saying “I’m sorry that Christians judge you”
“I’m sorry for how the churches treated you” and “I used to be a bible-banging homophobe, I’m sorry”
——
Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Christianity all about kindness and forgiveness?
Even if you don’t agree with how I live my life, doesn’t your lord tell you to show me kindness anyway?
Anyway.
Thank you, Christian dudes in this picture, you’ve restored a little bit of my faith in humanity.
This is what the world truly needs. People who not only see the fault that lies within homophobia, but to try and fix it. These men are my heros. Sure they may have been “a bible-banging homophobe” but they are trying to rectify their past actions and they are truly sorry for them. They are heros to me because they had faults and it showed their humanity. For only through their experience can we help others who they were once like them to see the light. The world needs more people like this. The world needs more heros like this.
I love this pic. I’m glad it’s on my dash again :3
Brb crying. omg.
<3
That gives me hope for Christians.
love it.
Available on Amazon now!
Excerpts:
Lyric: “I was strapped wit’ gats when you were cuddled wit’ cabbage patch.”
Lyric From Song “Forgot About Dre”
On Album 2001
By Artist Dr. Dre
Explanation: When you were still a child and had no concerns other than playing with dolls in the comfort and safety of your home, I was carrying guns around in my dangerous neighborhood.Lyric “I ain’t pass the bar, but I know a little bit”
Lyric From Song “99 Problems”
On Album The Black Album
By Artist Jay-Z
Explanation: Although I haven’t educated myself concerning the matters necessary to complete the examination lawyers take to be able to practice law, I have enough knowledge to be a very successful rapper and entrepreneur and to have sustained a level of wealth greater than many lawyers.
