Ellen DeGeneres slammed over ‘racist’ Nicki Minaj parody
Ellen DeGeneres is under fire for a skit parodying Nicki Minaj.
The clip, which aired on The Ellen DeGeneres Show this week, featured a young spoof version of Minaj.
Launching the skit, Ellen said: “I have one more thing to boost your mood… it was just announced that Nicki Minaj is producing a sitcom based on her childhood growing up in Queens, New York.
“It’s not on the air yet, but I called in a favour and managed to get us a sneak peek. It’s totally real, not something I put together as a joke… real!”
The sketch features DeGeneres a girl with a comically-large padded behind – who is joined by her equally large-bummed mother and father… as well as a dog.
Ellen deadpans: “They have big butts… that’s the joke.”
However, some online activists have branded the joke racist for focussing on Minaj’s rear end.
Fashion website Refinery29 wrote: “Not only was this sketch not funny, it’s also pretty offensive.
“Minaj may indeed have an ample derriere, but she is so much more than her physique, and watching a petite, white, middle-aged comedian poke fun at the singer’s butt smacks of casual racism and girl-on-girl body-shaming. ”
Gawker added: “It’s a joke, except it reduces Nicki Minaj to just an ass. She’s served us lots of ass, but so much more than that, too.
“She’s given us plenty of quirks, plenty of attitude, plenty of facial ticks, plenty of wigs.
“This skit is at least lazy, at least casually racist. How did this make it on the air?”
However, some have spoken in defence of DeGeneres – a close friend of Minaj.
The singer is yet to speak about the sketch.
