The explosive feud between Cardi B and Nicki Minaj may have now come to a tentative conclusion, but the drama made casualties out of a couple of fashion brands along the way.
One of the major points of contention between the two rap superstars is who got offered what fashion campaigns and who turned them down first.
So while the duo were going at it on social media, both Bill Wackermann, the CEO of Wilhelmina (the modeling agency that represents Nicki and cast the entire Diesel campaign), and Steve Madden stepped into the fray, ostensibly in an attempt to set the record straight.
It all started when Cardi claimed in a video that she was offered the Diesel “Hate Couture” campaign before Minaj, but turned it down to work on other projects. Wackerman responded to a post of the video on The Shade Room, writing, “Tell the truth Boo! That Diesel deal was built AROUND the one and only Queen. #truthwillsetyoufree – I’ve got the receipts.” Minaj later chimed in on the same post, “Poor baby has no idea fashion nova asked me to do that deal she had for over a year.”
Wackermann then posted a screenshot of his text conversation with Minaj where he writes, “I prefer to avoid to create any tension honestly, I can only tell you we never made any firm offer because this I would have know [sic], I prefer not to pen a conversation on this honestly.” Spurring Cardi to post some receipts of her own on her Instagram account in the form of an email from Diesel making her a preliminary offer to create a capsule collection. She captioned in the screenshot, “BOOM diesel receipts…. oh and by the way sis everyone has fashionnova deal [sic].”
Minaj also tweeted about Cardi’s shoe campaign, writing, “Same thing with Steve Madden. Irv Gotti asked me to do the deal several times. I passed. You never hear me talking bout things like this.”
Then, on Tuesday, Steve Madden added its two cents, tweeting from the brand’s account, “@NICKIMINAJ you can’t turn down an offer that was never made. #StopLying.”
Minaj retorted by quote-retweeting a fan who had shared a portion of an interview she did with Steve Madden in 2015, in which the shoe designer discussed trying to make a deal with the “Anaconda” rapper before ultimately going with Iggy Azalea instead.
“@SteveMadden thought I was lying you dumb f—k. You, Irv & Gee Roberson came to my house in MALIBU BEGGING me to do the deal. I said no,” Minaj wrote. “You then did a deal w/Iggy & she hated the pics you used & went in on you online. Im sure Irv told you to post this lie.” Iggy Azalea also took to Twitter to confirm this version of the story.
Madden responded on Twitter, writing, “@NICKIMINAJ is an incredibly talented artist but we couldn’t work together cuz the timing wasn’t right. @iamcardib came on the scene and I had a fantastic collaboration with her, and she is also an amazing talent. I love…both @NICKIMINAJ and @iamcardib music. I hope they can reach some peace — together they could probably take over the world. There is a lot of negativity out there right now, and I shouldn’t have contributed to that.”
But the shoe designer’s apology wasn’t warmly received. Minaj quickly retweeted his statement, writing, “Eat a d—k n—a. You lied on me cuz it was the trendy thing 2do! Ain’t nobody buyin that clown s—t. We couldn’t work together cuz I said the shoes were ugly. You see how when you do clownery it comes back to bite? WE NOT BUYING IT!!!!!!”
Fashion Nova, on the other hand, has remained notably (and probably wisely) silent throughout this whole ordeal.