BET apologizes to Nicki Minaj after rapper drops out of festival over offensive tweet

Nicki Minaj and Cardi B might have publicly buried their beef, but that didn’t stop BET from using Cardi’s historic Grammy win to dredge up drama between the two women.

And it appears the offending tweet has cost the network the biggest headliner it had booked for its annual BET Experience festival this summer — and prompted a swift public apology to Minaj and acknowledgment that the post “should never have been written.”

After Cardi became the first solo female rapper to win a Grammy for rap album on Sunday, BET posted a news item on the victory along with a saucy headline that read, “Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj is being dragged by her lacefront.”

While the tweet was swiftly deleted, Minaj’s fans flooded the network’s social media accounts in support of the rapper. (She wasn’t nominated for any awards this year, nor did she attend Sunday’s ceremony).

Early Monday the rapper retweeted a fan who screenshot the post, informing fans they should get refunds for her scheduled performance as part of the network’s BET Experience festival.

“Young Money will no longer be a part of the BET Experience or award show,” she wrote. Her Young Money labelmate Lil Wayne was also booked for the festival.

Minaj promised she would update fans on her summer tour dates soon and later joked that BET was the one being “dragged by their lace front” as she posted screengrabs of her fans inundating the network’s Instagram feed.

Just a few weeks ago the network announced both Minaj and Cardi would headline concerts for the four-day event built around the network’s annual awards show. As of Monday afternoon, BET still listed Minaj and Lil Wayne on its festival lineup (though it does include a disclaimer at the bottom: “*talent subject to change”).

The loss of Minaj and her labelmates are a massive blow for the event, set for June 20-23 at L.A. Live, which has recently struggled to recapture the buzz it had during its infancy.

The superstar rapper previously headlined the festival in 2015, a showing that was marred by so many production issues that a visibly irritated Minaj called out BET and festival promoters during the performance.

“I can’t thank you guys enough for all the love & support you continue to show me,” Minaj wrote to her fans on Monday. “To everyone who said something sweet, thank you. Whether I read it or not, I felt it. From the bottom of my heart. I love you so much. So so so soooo much. Stay tuned.”

Amid the backlash, BET issued a statement apologizing to the rapper. It reads in full:

“BET loves Nicki Minaj. We have supported her from the very beginning of her career and will continue to do so moving forward. Nicki has paved the way for so many performers and has solidified her place as one of the most powerful figures in the music industry.

Unfortunately, the respect we have for Nicki was violated by this post that should never have been written. The post does not reflect how we feel about Nicki. And further does not reflect our company values. We deeply apologize for the hurt, disappointment and confusion that this post has caused. We are committed to doing everything we can to address the situation.

We are also conducting an internal audit to assure these types of posts are not published again. We have apologized to Nicki and her team. The post has been removed and we have taken additional appropriate action. We understand Nicki’s position and look forward to continuing our dialogue with her.

Finally, we apologize to all of her fans. This should have never happened.”

gerrick.kennedy@latimes.com

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