On Thursday, just four days after the biggest night in black entertainment, Nicki Minaj took to Twitter to slam BET for its alleged low ratings for its annual awards show, retweeting unconfirmed numbers from Wikipedia.
“When u go out of ur way to b spiteful & hurt artists who have always supported ur show… when you fire great ppl who have put their heart & soul into the show…” Minaj wrote, in response to the Music News Facts tweet, which cited an all-time low for the show. “When you’d rather be a messy reality show than a prestigious award show… when ur still being dragged by that lace.”
The retweeted screenshot showed a list of BET Award viewer numbers from previous years, dating back to 2006, which claimed the 2019 show only accumulated 2 million viewers. But, in a press release obtained by Billboard, sent by BET, the network said this year’s show amassed 12.7 million total viewers across eight networks.
In fact, according to TV By the Numbers, the award show took the top spot in its cable ratings on the Sunday it premiered and came in second and third for the week of June 17-23.
The drama between BET and Nicki Minaj erupted earlier this year after a former employee with the network dissed her, in the wake of Cardi B’s Grammy win. “Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj is being dragged by her lacefront,” the network wrote, which in turn, forced Minaj and Young Money to pull out of their BET Experience performance.
However, the network later released a statement, apologizing to the rapper, saying, “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 this post has caused.”
When u go out of ur way to b spiteful & hurt artists who have always supported ur show… when you fire great ppl who have put their heart & soul into the show… when you’d rather be a messy reality show than a prestigious award show… when ur still being dragged by that lace https://t.co/DOYKmgAlyr
— MEGATRON (@NICKIMINAJ) June 27, 2019
