Sia has issued an apology, saying she made a “buffoon” of herself, after accidentally mistaking Nicki Minaj for Cardi B on Twitter.
On Friday (June 12), the Aussie pop singer said she “would love” to work with Cardi B after a user shared a picture of Minaj, 37 — in a since-deleted tweet — asking Sia if she would ever collaborate with the Anaconda rapper.
“I love @iamcardib, Sia tweeted in response, referring to a different Black female rapper. “I would love to collab with her any day.”
After confusing Minaj for the Bodak Yellow hit-maker, Sia quickly became the subject of widespread criticism.
As a result, some Twitter users dubbed the 44-year-old-musician “racist,” while others utilized the trending hashtag #SiaIsOverParty, before she eventually returned to the platform on Saturday sharing her apology.
“I totally misunderstood a tweet earlier that has resulted in me making a buffoon out of myself,” the Cheap Thrills singer wrote. “Sorry @NickiMinaj and @iamcardib, if you hear about it. Can I just like you both?” she added.
Before apologizing for the mix-up, however, Sia defended herself in a series of since-deleted tweets, suggesting that Cardi B, 27, and Minaj would not mind her mistake and that people should be focusing on “real news” instead of a “silly feud.”
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“You think @iamcardib and @NickiMinaj are so petty that they would want you focusing on a silly feud instead of real news?” tweeted the Chandelier singer on Friday.
“I don’t give a s—t about feuds. George Floyd was f—king murdered. Breonna Taylor. Murdered. Come on, let’s rise in unity,” she added, referring to some of the deaths which triggered the recent Black Lives Matter protests.
The deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other Black individuals, including Ahmaud Arbery, have helped renew calls to fight systemic racism and put an end to police brutality across the world.
“Hey @iamcardib, @NickiMinaj, you aren’t thinking about a feud right now, are you? We are focused on the problem of systemic racism,” Sia wrote in a separate tweet.
In response, however, one user suggested that Sia was simply using the protests to “silence people calling her out” for allegedly being “racist.”
They wrote: “People (are) mad at Sia because… she was racist. It said Nicki in the tweet she replied to and she still mixed her up with another Black woman.”
“Now she’s trying to use George Floyd and Breonna Taylor to silence people calling her out,” they added. “Trash.”
“Please take her phone away,” tweeted another user, indirectly addressing Sia’s management.
As of this writing, neither Minaj or Cardi B have publicly addressed Sia’s comments or the subsequent controversy.