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Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Music BET Refuses To Air New Nicki Minaj "Stupid Hoe" Video

Posted by Sydney Brownstone on Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 2:56 PM

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TMZ reports that BET has banned the new Nicki Minaj video, and argues it did so for a couple of reasons: First, the blatantly demeaning title, and second, because of how excessively "raunchy" the video is, featuring lots of "nearly naked" female figures. Eh, that justification alone doesn't seem quite right. When has raunchiness stopped videos from being broadcast in the past? There's no visual element in this video that seems like it should really qualify for a black bar of censorship, unless you count the side view of a well-moisturized butt.

Perhaps what's offensive about this video has less to do with the video's "explicit" nature (c'mon, Lady Gaga shows us just as much skin), and all to do with the fact that Nicki Minaj displays and inhabits every degrading female trope in the book—a posing statue to a plasticine barbie, to an animal in a cage to an "innocent" little girl licking a lollipop. Network's perspective aside, the nudity's neither here nor there; the problem is that Nicki's video plays like an action-packed trailer for a misogynist fantasy. BET did not immediately respond to comment for TMZ, so who knows if the execs took that into account when deciding not to air it. Either way, you can decide for yourself and watch it here.

You can follow Sydney Brownstone on Twitter @sydbrownstone

Tags: Nicki Minaj, stupid hoe, BET