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Frank Turner Beefs With Nicki Minaj: '[She] Has Been a Total Selfish Sh--head'

Tina Tyrell

UK singer-songwriter Frank Turner started an unexpected beef with rapper-slash-pop star Nicki Minaj yesterday at Scotland's T In The Park festival, calling her a "total selfish shithead" at one point on Twitter yesterday afternoon.

The whole kerfuffle stems from Minaj appearing for her festival set some 55 minutes later than scheduled which definitely annoyed Turner who was also appearing at the Scottish event.

"To clarify: Nicki Minaj has been a total selfish shithead to all the hardworking crew backstage at T," Turner tweeted. "Pathetic. Fuck off." Shortly thereafter he tweeted: "You can (I suppose) be a dick to your own crew. You're paying them. But everyone else? And not to mention the people out front. Ugh."




The tweets immediately drew the ire and rage of Minaj fans who wasted no time replying to Turner via Twitter. "Haha. Currently being flamed by semi-literate fans on Niki (sp) Minaj," Turner tweeted. "Brightening up my day." The singer-songwriter also retweeted some of the replies which he described as being "endless, and endlessly funny."

While Minaj made no mention of Turner's comments, she tweeted the following on Sunday prior to her performance: "Still sick but the show must go on...right? #Scotland" There's no word if her illness had anything to do with appearing nearly an hour after her time slot.

When she did appear, it seems the abbreviated set was quite lacking from some reports. "The hurried set didn't show much rhythm, or fluidity, or finesse, or come to think of it...talent," STV.com's Kirstin Lee said. "Miss Minaj showed none of the quirks of her many interviews and simply came across as bratty. With pre-rehearsed lines and no genuine crowd interaction, twenty-five minutes after it all began, she jogged back off of the stage, and the crowd was left wondering, 'Did that actually happen?'"

According to the report, festival organizers issued a statement saying her flight was delayed which left her appearing late and playing a short set.

Earlier today (July 9) after the dust had somewhat settled, Turner used a blog post on his own site explaining his stance and comments regarding Minaj. "The central point I wanted to make, and the thing that got me pissed off in the first place, is about respect," Turner wrote, saying what really got to him was Minaj's disrespecting the fans and especially the crew.

"There are an awful lot of people who work on making shows and festivals happen who don't get to stand in the middle of the stage and bask in anyone's adulation," he wrote. "In fact, it's the vast majority of people. This includes my crew (sound guy, guitar tech etc.), the stage hands, the promoter who books the show, and the hundreds of people who run the backstage organization, and more.

"These people all work their arses off, they're there from the first thing in the morning to last thing at night, and they don't get paid as much as the musicians on the stage. Without them, nothing would get done, there would be no shows for anyone to enjoy. I couldn't do what I do without my crew."

Adding it was a "logistical nightmare" putting a festival together, Turner said if "there's one person in the midst of this who has a pretty easy, highly paid job (show up, mime, go home) who refuses to do this, and thereby fucks up the day of all the hard-working, sleep-deprived, exhausted, under-appreciated festival crew, well, that pisses me off."

Finally, Turner said "doing this when you're holding a microphone makes you 'artistic', 'difficult' or maybe a 'Diva.' In any other walk of life it's called being rude, selfish and inconsiderate."

Regardless of the outcome, Minaj and Turner's paths won't cross in the near future. Turner continues his summer European tour later this week in Croatia while Minaj begins a North American tour July 16 in Chicago.

Watch Nicki Minaj's "Beez in the Trap" Video Feat. 2 Chainz

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