* WARNING: The video contains explicit language.
Nicki Minaj’s latest music video is causing a serious stir.
In an animated video for her new single “Only”, the theme is strikingly similar to that of a Nazi rally. Thousands of soldiers wearing a red armband featuring a logo reminiscent of the swastica (it is, in fact, the Young Money record label logo) gather in front of Minaj, who plays a dictator.
The video, particularly with its set up and colour scheme, bears a strong resemblance to Nazi propoganda films and viewers promptly took to social media to slam both Minaj and the video director Jeff Osbourne.
“Hey @NickiMinaj thanks for the blatant Nazi imagery in your new video! really great allusion to persecution & genocide,” tweeted one disgusted fan.
The video also features the talents of Chris Brown, Drake and Lil Wayne, and some commenters pointed out how innappropriate the video was considering that Drake is half-Jewish.
“Drake I don’t get how you’re Jewish participating in a video that is clearly mimicking Nazi propaganda like are you dumb or do u not care?,” said one scathing Tweet.
While Minaj isn’t the first artist to employ Nazi-themed imagery in her music (Pink Floyd famously did so in the video for their song “The Wall”), she is drawing a serious amount of criticism because, instead of making a political statement, the video suggests comparisons between her and Hitler could be seen as a compliment.
On Reddit.com, a lengthy discussion under the banner “The new Nicki Minaj video Only is glorifying Nazism and Hitler”, raised some interesting points, but a number of commentors seemed to agree that Minaj was only employing this tactic to stoke controversy and pique interest in her music.
Director Osbourne has yet to respond to the backlash, but has been retweeting both positive and negative comments on his social media account. Nicky Minaj is keeping mum for the moment.