If there are two women you don't want to get on the wrong side of, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj should be high up on your list. Unfortunately for one Grammys producer, he's managed to seriously vex both.
Ken Ehrlich hit the news last week as he was accused of spreading lies by Ariana - but now Nicki has stepped up to deal a second blow, claiming he "bullied her into staying quiet for 7 years".
The revelation came to light after a fan questioned the singer's lack of accolades, bringing it to everyone's attention that the Bang Bang star has never won a Grammy in her 16-year music career.
"Nicki Minaj has been at the top of her game for way too long to not have had a Grammy. I don’t know what white man from the boards she pissed off," wrote a sex and relationship blogger named Oloni on Twitter.
Soon after, the Good Form rapper spotted the tweet and responded claiming she had simply "p***sed off the same man" as Ariana. She added that all would be revealed in the next instalment of her Apple Music Beats 1 show, Queen Radio.
Retweeting Oloni's post, the 36-year-old wrote: "I p***ed off the same man Ariana just called out for lying. Grammy producer KEN. I was bullied into staying quiet for seven years out of fear. But I’ll tell my fans the REAL on the next episode of #QueenRadio they deserve the truth. Also, CONGRATS to everyone who won last night."
The controversy surrounding the producer first began when Ariana announced she wouldn't be attending the 2019 ceremony and Ehrlich gave an interview claiming she wouldn't be performing because they felt it was "too late for her to pull something together."
On social media, the 7 Rings songstress bit back, stating: "mhmmm here it is ! 'too late for her to pull something together......' i’ve kept my mouth shut but now you’re lying about me. i can pull together a performance over night and you know that, Ken. it was when my creativity & self expression was stifled by you, that i decided not to attend. i hope the show is exactly what you want it to be and more.". [sic]
She continued: "i offered 3 different songs. it’s about collaboration. it’s about feeling supported. it’s about art and honesty. not politics. not doing favors or playing games. it’s just a game y’all.. and i’m sorry but that’s not what music is to me." [sic]
A few days ago, Ehrlich gave his side of the story, telling Rolling Stone that the singer's tweets were "a surprise".
"I will say this, and they don’t want me to say it but I’m going to say it," he stated. "The thing that probably bothered me more than whatever else she said about me is when she said I’m not collaborative. The fact of the matter is — and I actually wrote a little thing in the middle of the night that I’m not going to do anything about, but, I mean."
He continued: "You can ask Christina Aguilera, who I asked to do ‘It’s a Man’s World’ for James Brown. You can ask Melissa Etheridge, who finished her cancer treatment and I put her out on stage, bald, doing Janis Joplin. You can ask Ricky Martin who overnight became the creator of the Latin music revolution. Ask Mary J. Blige, who was scared shitless to go out there and do No More Drama. I basically worked with her to mould it. Ask H.E.R. who’s in this show."
Ehrlich added that he never actually spoke to Ariana directly, but instead went through her management team, stating: "I don’t know if I’m good at anything else, but I understand artists and I can hear other artists in an artist. I don’t say to people, 'This is what you should do.' I approach it casually and say, hey, this might be a good idea, let’s find something in the middle."
So, we've heard from Ariana and Ken. What will Nicki reveal on her show? Stay tuned.
