In another edition of white celebrities making absolute fools of themselves on the internet for no reason at all, Sia embroiled herself in the long-running Cardi B and Nicki Minaj drama, then somehow defended herself by lecturing fans on systemic racism. All in the space of five tweets! How? Let’s dig in.
It all started with a harmless tweet from a fan asking Sia if she would ever collaborate with Nicki Minaj, accompanied by a picture of Nicki Minaj. Sia replied, “I love @iamcardib and although this isn’t a collaboration, I would love to COLLAB with her any day!†To review: The original tweet from the fan both mentioned Minaj by name and included a picture of her. Sia responded by mixing up Minaj with Cardi B, which fans interpreted as the kind of casual racism often perpetrated by white celebrities. Adding to this mess is the historied feud between Cardi and Minaj, which made Sia’s mixup particularly egregious to fans of both artists. This prompted the hashtag #Siaisoverparty, which trended on Twitter.
In response, Sia tweeted, “My fuck up†and tagged Minaj. The drama might have ended there, but of course it didn’t. Next, Sia tweeted, “Dudes. I also like @MissNikkiiBaby I don’t give a shit about feuds, George Floyd was fucking murdered Breonna Taylor. Murdered. Come on let’s rise in unity. You think @iamcardib and Nikki are so petty that they would want you focusing on a silly feud instead of REAL NEWS?†(it appears that she tagged the wrong person in that tweet, because @MissNikkiiBaby is not Minaj’s handle). Sia followed this up with another tweet that tagged both artists: “Hey @iamcardib @NICKIMINAJ you aren’t thinking about a feud right now are you? We are focused on the problem of systemic racism,†prompting fans to question if Sia knows what the term “systemic racism†means.
Sia then deleted her previous tweets and apologized, writing “I totally misunderstood a tweet earlier that has resulted in me making a buffoon out of myself. Sorry @NICKIMINAJ and @iamcardib if you hear about it. Can I just like you both?†Fans then pointed out that the issue was never with Sia liking both artists, but with her confusing two black artists with each other. Sia then tweeted out a John Oliver segment on police brutality and now has mercifully appeared to have logged off. It’s worth noting that neither Cardi B nor Nicki Minaj have reacted to any of this on social media.