Nicki Minaj trolled her trolls by posting their photos to Instagram: too far?

I remain amazed at the amount of time Nicki Minaj not only devotes to social media but also to arguing with people on various platforms. She once railed against supermodel tushes on Instagram, and she recently beefed with Taylor Swift on Twitter over the ridiculous VMA nominations. Nicki had a long-running feud with Iggy Azalea on Twitter, and she’ll also fight on behalf of her man. Nicki was so caught up in Meek Mill’s fight with Joe Budden that she mocked Joe Biden’s deceased son by mistake. Nicki is just full of negativity. This time, it’s not all her fault, but it kinda is.

Nicki sweetly hugged her brother and posted the photo ^^^ to Instagram over the weekend. Some trolls made fun of Nicki’s hair, calling it “nappy.” Instead of realizing that these people have no life other than to insult a celebrity, Nicki took the time and energy to fight back. In doing so, she behaved just as badly as those who insulted her. She trolled the trolls and became a troll herself.

Nicki visited the Instagram pages of her trolls and screencapped their photos. Then she posted them to her Instagram account before deleting them. Nicki’s always jumping to action before thinking, and she deletes nearly as often as she tweets. You can see what Nicki posted over at The Root. Did she go overboard to shame these ladies? They were pretty rude to her, but Nicki holds a lot more power than they do.

Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj

Photos courtesy of WENN

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83 Responses to “Nicki Minaj trolled her trolls by posting their photos to Instagram: too far?”

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  1. oop says:

    They were not even mean. They were just saying her hair in that photo is not a good look, and they are right.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      According to the Root, they said her brother was unattractive. I’m not defending what she did, because I think it was a waste of energy, but I think it’s pretty mean after she just posted how much she loved her brother for people to mock his appearance.

      • oop says:

        One of the girls she made fun of just said: “That hair gotta go.”

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        Oh, ok, then I agree. Overreaction.

      • Mimz says:

        Yeah agreed @GNAT. It is a waste of energy but people are out of control hiding behind their computers while dissing celebrities just because “they can”.
        There is only so much hatred one can take. I see a lot of people here are saying things like “she should have taken the high road” but considering the amount of sh*t she must read every day on every single one of her posts, her responding to 1 or three is no big deal. it’s human nature, we can’t take the high road at all times.

      • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

        @Mimz
        Agree. Part of me says take the high road, but if I posted a picture of my little brother at his wedding and somebody said he was ugly…gloves off. Let’s see how good lookin’ YOU are, lady… I might regret it later, but can totally see how it happened.

    • LookyLoo says:

      They said her hair was “nappy.” Big difference. Sad that it appears to be other black women saying it, too. Discussion for another day, I guess, about latent prejudice, brain washing and self-loathing. There is nothing wrong with hair that has texture/curl.

      • Chichi says:

        I’m just shocked that anybody still uses “nappy hair” as an insult. I work hard to keep my hair as natural as possible, my tight curls are a point of pride. If you called me nappy, I would probably respond with a beaming smile and a “shucks, thanks”.

      • Tiffany :) says:

        I don’t think they all called it “nappy”. As someone mentions above, one of the posts just said the hair had to go.

    • Darling says:

      Why does this mean she’s full of negativity… Because she’s a celebrity that’s means she can’t fight back, defend herself ? But she’s a celebrity she has to just sit back and take the online bullying? Why does she always have to be the bigger person …tabloids gossip sites etc report false stories about her all the time..every source is not reliable..isn’t that considered defamation of character? Yes those trolls don’t have anything better to do than to insult her but I bet they found something better to do when she retaliated

      • mimif says:

        Yeah I agree. Nicki gets dragged for a lot of shit; if I were her I’d prob fire back too. That said, she also tweets/IGs a lot of positive stuff too, but of course we don’t see the press on that.

    • Josephine says:

      Then you must think that Nicki wasn’t mean, either. Nicki just stated a fact.

    • Wentworth Miller says:

      Nicki Minaj has a history, if u will. She doesn’t like it when anyone disagrees with her or anything that she like. I saw her blow up on an interviewer because she asked the lady what she thought about her perfume. When the interviewer said that it wasn’t their favorite scent, Nicki spent the rest of the interview with her back to the woman after giving her attitude.

  2. YvesWestwood says:

    She’s a moron. Petty, silly nonsense. Where does she find the time?

    • K says:

      :). You found the time reading about it. 🙂 Is she that much better than you that it boggles your mind she found the time? Oh, right. They’re not like us. They have to and can handle so much more than we do. Those super-creatures we call ‘celebrities’. I can’t believe she found the time. (Don’t be too offended. I just lol’d and had to comment.) She’s making a point. In this case, if they did ‘diss’ her, she has every right to diss a few of them back, see how they like it…if she has the time.

  3. Nessa says:

    The “Do Not Engage” policy is usually the best policy for celebrities. Pick your battles, especially if you are in the public eye.

    • Lucy2 says:

      I agree- do not engage and block.
      I have heard a few celebrities say if someone sends something really awful and mean, they will simply retweet it or whatever. I guess it’s a way of saying “look at the BS I have to put up with”, but internet jerks are in search of a reaction, so I do think the best thing is to not give them any.

    • Tiffany :) says:

      I agree,
      Ultimately, it is about what kind of energy you want in your life. As a celeb there will ALWAYS be people posting negative things on your social media. You either give that attention and let it take away from moments in your life that would otherwise be happy…or you can let it go and realize that arguing with the haters won’t make them hate less.

      I can see responding occasionally, but putting in the effort to go after people just seems so pointless. I don’t know about you, but for me, it never feels as good to “burn” someone as you’d expect when you are plotting.

  4. ldub says:

    This is funny as hell.

    I mean, as a celebrity, it’s not smart on nicki’s part but if you dish it be prepared to take it.

    Too many keyboard thugs out here. SMH

    • bellenola says:

      +1 I think its hilarious.

    • LB says:

      It’s funny and it’s fair as hell. Every day people hide behind their keyboards, insulting other people. Acting like money and fame protects people from getting their feelings hurt. I’m glad she turned it around in them, I wish she hadn’t deleted it.

      • Skyblue says:

        I agree! Funny as hell! I think internet trolls deserve a little of what they dish out. What is that saying about those living in glass houses shouldn’t cast stones?

    • Ari says:

      Yes, thank you. I laughed my ass off LOL

    • DTX says:

      Ya know, there are many times when Nikki gets on my nerves or I think she’s being petty. But I’m not gonna judge her too harsh on this, b/c it’s too damn funny. People talk too much sh*t on the internet and say things they’d never have the balls to IRL. I cannot deny that there is a power imbalance, for sure, but that’s why you don’t run up on someone like Nikki Minaj. If you act stupid with her, she’ll just get stupider with you!

      And, I actually like Nikki’s look on that pic, her makeup is light handed enough to show off all her beautiful features.

    • Tiffany :) says:

      I think I would thought it funnier if it actually was funny. But Nicki wasn’t very witty in her responses, it just kind of fell flat, IMO.

  5. Samtha says:

    Always punch up, never down, as the saying goes. She has a lot more power and influence than them, so it was a dick move. A human thing to do, but a dicky human thing to do.

    In any case, she needs to get off social media for a while. It’s easy to lose perspective when you devote too much time to your likes and @s.

    • Brittney B says:

      … but she only posted their pictures. She didn’t even say anything other than “she’s dissing me”, basically. I’m actually surprised she didn’t go farther.

  6. Icy blue says:

    Ok, I thought the author was saying that Nicky was rude, but how? The trolls criticised her looks and were mean spirited and Nicky paid them back in kind with the same mean spirit.

  7. Betsy says:

    It seems like and overreaction in this case, but trolling is out of control.

  8. Naddie says:

    It’s a bit funny, a bit mean, and very immature. While these people were wrong, she’s a celebrity whose fame is very attached to her looks. While I think they deserved because they insulted her brother, it’s not a fair battle.

  9. Imo says:

    If you come for someone be prepared for the possibility that you might get shut down. Besides, why is it okay when Keeping It Real Rihanna does it but not Minaj?

  10. Tifygodess24 says:

    Her hair looks just fine. Ugh. People will go at others for anything and it’s pretty ridiculous. It’s sad that people can’t just look at the photo and take it for what it is – a happy moment. I can also see to some extent why Nicki hollers back at people because any of us would want to defend ourselves as well. However Considering her celebrity she might want to learn to step back and take a deep breath before she goes in.
    Was Nicki wrong? I don’t know. I guess I come from the camp – “hey you dish it you better be able to take it” and “stand by what you say” – because you never know what someone might do in return to your negativity. When someone gets called out they may think twice about running their mouth while others a few others might go twice as hard. So I’m kinda team Nicki on this.

  11. ali.hanlon says:

    Team nicki

    If you say something online you will get a response.

    Choose wisely and use fake names

  12. Nina says:

    I’m of two minds on this – first, Nicki should really just let it go and not give attention to trolls, but on the other hand, trolls can only be stopped through public shaming.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      Me, too, Nina. I wouldn’t have done it, but part of me thinks it’s sort of funny that she did. 😈

    • The Eternal Side-Eye says:

      Yeah if there’s one thing we’ve learned from the Internet its that much like in real life trolls/bullies only really back down when they’re confronted publicly.

  13. Meatball says:

    I really don’t understand going on someone’s Instagram or Facebook or whatever and insulting them. Like, why go out with of your way to search them out or follow them so you can leave negative comments. If you can’t handle it then don’t do it. I have seen the ridiculous comments people have left of some of the Instagrams that I follow (including Nicki) and I don’t know how they deal with it every day.

    • JENNA says:

      People like that are miserable inside. They would never do it irl but the internet gives them a false sense of power.

  14. original kay says:

    I went to see what Nicki wrote, clicked the link. I didn’t see her making nasty comments, just pointing out that the people insulting her weren’t perfect either.

    How is what she did any different than the reading of mean tweets? I forget who does that, some guy has celebs on to read mean tweets. It makes an impact, having the celeb read the actual tweet. So does this, and I hope the people who feel it’s ok to say it to the actual person learn that it sometimes comes back on them.

    Would you say it to Nicki’s face? Then don’t say it on social media.

    • Brittney B says:

      Yeah, she didn’t call anyone fat or ugly (favorite insults among MRAs) or use their appearances to minimize their opinions about her work. They insulted her hair; she posted pictures of their hair. That’s more like “fair play” than most social media fights.

      Yes, it’s petty, and it does speak to her character/insecurities. It’s true that she has more power than them. But they weren’t innocent either; they went out of their way to leave unnecessary insults. If this happened more often, maybe people wouldn’t be so quick to be nasty to other human beings. You say something on the Internet, on a famous account no less? You’re opening the door for people to focus on your accounts. At the very least, you’re inviting comparisons.

  15. The Original Mia says:

    She didn’t beef with Taylor Swift. Taylor stuck her nose in something that had nothing to do with her. As for the hair police aka internet trolls, they just had to say something on a happy post. There was no need to ruin it with their comments. So she gave them a little taste of what their direct attack felt like. Boo hoo!

  16. Jessica says:

    Good for her. Ignoring these kinds of people doesn’t work. They want to be able to say nasty things and never be called on them. If they were looking for someone to actually engage them in a fight they’d be saying these horrible things to regular people in their life, not posting comments on a celebrity’s instagram account. Doing what Nicki did brings their nastiness into their real life. Maybe their friends and family see it, and they actually get called out in real life for their nastiness. That’s often a wake up call to these people.

    • Neah23 says:

      Actually Ignoring these kinds of people does work. Trolls what attention and Nicki gave them that attention.

      • Brittney B says:

        The term “trolls” gets tossed around a little too freely these days. Trolls are people who deliberately make the most outrageous comments in an effort to anger and frustrate people. They rarely espouse the opinions they’re spewing; they just zero in on an insecurity or a specific kind of anger, and they embody everything the other person hates. They do it to get a rise out of the other person.

        Trolls rarely use their own identities. These people were just average people who are active on social media, get bored and leave nasty comments on celebrity accounts. Unless they spend their time scrolling through various celebrity accounts and insulting whatever they think will hurt the celebrities the most — and maybe they do, but that’s not the narrative here — they’re not trolls. They’re just mean people giving unsolicited opinions. They probably do the same in real life, projecting their own insecurities.

        Those people aren’t immune to backlash; it doesn’t fuel them either. It’s important to ignore *trolls* because they’re solely focused on instigating and getting a reaction out of people. That might be true of these women… but most likely, considering the massive wave of insults on celebrity accounts, they probably assumed no one would notice, even Nicki herself. They probably just wanted to be mean and move on. Jessica is right; this is a passive-aggressive and mean-spirited behavior pattern, and the answer is to make them confront it.

  17. The Eternal Side-Eye says:

    Nah, I’m officially tired of the e-thug brigade and how they take the time to insult people for literally any and everything.

    How dare Nicki have *gasp* nappy hair as a black woman???

    So no. New rule. Act like a jerk online and you deal with the real life consequences offline. It’s one thing to argue if they were discussing her hair (or brother) on their own page but the second you @ her then you’ve insulted her to her face and opened the discussion. Sometimes the discussion may go in directions you didn’t plan for which is why you don’t suddenly get bold when you’re behind a computer screen.

  18. cs says:

    For those of you saying how you don’t see anything wrong… What I want to know is how any of these people were spammed with 1000000 hate comments after she posted that. And how many of them have had so much that they couldn’t take the hate from her legion of fans and deleted their account. I’ve seen it happen a lot on Tumblr due to crazy crowd-mentality anger. And the last time I saw a (Korean) celebrity respond to a hate comment, the poor middle-school girl got doxxed by her fans.

    Not that leaving hate comments is okay, but there’s a reason why having the clout of a celebrity and singling out people like that is capitalising on a power imbalance.

    • Daria Morgendorffer says:

      @cs – I came here to say the same. It’s not what Nicki did that counts, it’s the fact that Nicki’s fans probably went insane and left these people millions of hateful comments. That is where there’s a problem, and Nicki knew this would happen when she did it.

    • Artemis says:

      I don’t agree with anybody’s action in this case. Social media is more about spreading hate and getting attention for meaningless opinions and actions than anything else.

      That said, the people Nicki outed were also relying on the power of anonymity and the fact that many hateful comments garner them attention. With or without Nicki outing them, people could’ve gone to their Twitter anyway. It happens ALL the time with celebs’ stans and fan communities.

      All people seem to want (famous or not) is attention which they wrongly perceive as ‘power’. I don’t feel pity for either of these parties. Nicki is powerful so why does she even care, she has a career that she can focus on instead of living on Twitter all the time. The people who thought themselves safe due to hiding behind a computer screen got a taste of what real power is and why most people are simply not equipped to even by remotely ‘famous’. If you can’t take, NEVER dish it. Don’t put yourself out there, stay in your lane. People on social media seem to get worse and worse and stupid.

    • Tiffany :) says:

      Great points, cs.

  19. JENNA says:

    Twitter and Instagram really bring the worst out of people. And people were complaining about Facebook five years ago lol.

  20. jenn12 says:

    I don’t know… keyboard warriors can be pretty vicious, and calling out a bully is kind of understandable.

  21. lile says:

    “Nicki is just full of negativity.” So true. I used to really like her. Cannot tolerate even the sound of her voice anymore. She is so hateful and negative I am surprised she has any fans at all. She is a hateful bully.

  22. Josefa says:

    Sigh.

    What I hate about Nicki is it’s so hard to defend her. She’s very talented and smart, actually. But sometimes she just makes no sense.

    Theres nothing to defend here, Nicki. This was stupid and exaggerated from whatever point of view you pick.

  23. AlmondJoy says:

    What annoys me most about situations like this is that celebs will scroll through hundreds of “you’re beautiful” and “I love you” and “You inspire me” comments, ignore them and and then reply to the negative ones. I’m not saying the the Twitter and IG trolls aren’t wrong, because they surely are. I just hate that they ignore those who truly support them and respond to those that hate them.

    • Artemis says:

      True. They want to be seen as strong yet at the same time constantly feed into a victimhood attitude by focusing on the negative.

    • GoodNamesAllTaken says:

      Good point.

    • Kitten says:

      This exactly.

    • AlmondJoy says:

      Artemis, GNAT, Kitten: It drives me mad! Why continue to focus on the negative? Not that trolls shouldn’t be kindly put in their place… In that case you can do so without being just as offensive as they are. But if you’re going to respond, why not respond to the good comments as well?

    • Brittney B. says:

      I keep trying to respond to this comment, but the website never shows my reply (pending moderation or otherwise). Let’s see if this works..

      @ AlmondJoy

      I actually found myself on Giuliana Rancic’s IG the other day (don’t ask)… and she does the exact opposite. Some people were leaving “eat a burger” and “skeletor” comments; others were coming to her defense and telling their own stories about cancer and weight problems, basically asking the commenters to remember that Giuliana is a human being.

      And then she jumped into the thread, stayed silent about the hate, and replied to her defenders, thanking them for being lovely and even complimenting them on their beautiful families (she clearly went to their accounts after seeing the comments). I don’t really have an opinion on her either way, and her weight isn’t our business (though I did always assume ED and was sad for her). But now I have a lot of respect for her… and a lot more sadness, too, because she actually scrolls through the comments and reads the hateful ones.

      Her fans said as much… basically, “thanks for replying but I kind of wish you hadn’t because it means you saw the other ones too”.

      • The Eternal Side-Eye says:

        Aww, wow that’s deep. I agree I’m happy she replies to her fans but it does suck that means she has to see some of those vile comments and take them in. I’ve had the experience of seeing some of the things people reply negatively to celebs compiled on a website and it really made me lose all respect or pity for those people.

        As others have said if they launch comments against Nicki with her fame and fortune then who else are they stalking and harassing who’s smaller and doesn’t have the defense or luxury? It sucks there’s no way to really punish trolls other than going after them one by one.

  24. Crumpet says:

    If you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen. Print your photos out and send them to your friends, or keep them in your house, whatever. But if you make them public, expect comment. Duh.

  25. db says:

    In general weren’t we better off before the era of mindlessly vicious comments on the internet? Attacking public figures and each other?

    • hmph says:

      Yeah, also, camera phones. Now you have to be afraid someone will take a sneaky pic without your consent and post it on social media for thousands to mock. I have seen that happen to young girls who were just minding their own business when out and about and then the pic goes viral and ya know the rest (it becomes a meme etc).

      • The Eternal Side-Eye says:

        I have to disagree on the camera phones bit, this year has shown the public the benefit of camera phones in filming police officers and catching them in the act of lying.

        Social media like Facebook, Twitter and etc. have given a powerful voice to First Nation people and Native Americans to fight against imbalances in power where their voice had been stripped in the media and politics.

        So yes it’s horrible for many people and I don’t like or agree with the abuses in this technology but I don’t think we were better off before them. It’s helping move forward a new era in the civil rights movement.

      • Brittney B. says:

        The Eternal Side-Eye

        That’s a really good point.

        I hate seeing a sea of smartphones at concerts and theme parks. I mourn for the loss of memories and sensory experiences. But whenever I hear “we were better off without it” or catch-all generalizations about social media being meaningless at best and IQ-lowering at worst? I think “privilege privilege privilege”.

        We’re experiencing my generation’s biggest wave of social activism BECAUSE of social media. Women have been objectified and humiliated and demeaned for centuries, but men have driven the narrative and the media. Now girls are growing up with the ability to relate to other women, to find out their experiences are widespread but NOT okay.

        And people of color have faced devastating police brutality and casual racism on a daily basis, as mainstream society pretended we “moved on” from racism and bigots blamed racial or social inferiority for disproportionate crime and poverty. The “bootstraps” myth was easy to believe when people could assume their experiences were universal. Now, everyone has a platform. Everyone has the ability to speak and get heard. Many have the ability to provide actual physical documentation of the horrors they’ve been facing for so long. It’s no longer “your word against mine” with crippling imbalances of power.

        Your Native American example is great, too. I’ve had to deal with many people (all white men, imagine that) lamenting the “PC” nature of outrage over offensive sports team names. I always tell them… (1) it’s not really our place to decide whether it’s offensive, is it? and (2) this isn’t new; it’s just new to YOU. Native people have been dealing with this ignorance and widely accepted racism for centuries. It’s just that they’re finally able to organize and protest and have their voices heard. It’s no longer rich team owners and network executives with all the power over the conversation.

        For all the pettiness and stupidity, it’s worthwhile if we get social progress too. It’s beyond worthwhile, actually. I’ll take worsening grammar any day over a society that continues to ignore entire races and classes and genders.

      • me says:

        There needs to be laws in place to protect people from this happening. It’s scary how anyone can be filming you and your personal conversations and then blasting it on social media, and before you know it you’re on Access Hollywood or TMZ. This shouldn’t be allowed…why is the internet not governed?

      • The Eternal Side-Eye says:

        Exactly Brittney!

        I’m the first one to hate how we allow/have a culture that can take anyone regardless of their own feelings and put them on a public international platform for the amusement of strangers. I’ll complain about that all day, but seriously social media has been an amazing boon for civil rights and minority progress.

        I couldn’t be more proud to see the changes we’ve made and how the media has had to respond to a change in tone and demands and stop with the ‘angry black woman’ narrative. Social media has given us a world where the smallest group lacking funds and lobbyists can still compete against manipulative billionaires. That I love!

  26. me says:

    ” Instead of realizing that these people have no life other than to insult a celebrity, Nicki took the time and energy to fight back.” – LOL excuse me Celebitchy but isn’t this how you make your money? Isn’t this why most people come to your site? So only people with “no life” comment about celebs huh?

    • Brasileira says:

      Hahha! ^^^^ THIS, exactly!

    • heresthething says:

      lol, I was gonna say the same thing. It’s a bit rich for celeb gossip bloggers to point a finger at others for insulting celebs. Oh the Irony.

      CB is right though. You should at least get paid for the insults. We are the dumb ones doing it for free. 🙂

  27. Briana says:

    I hate how people applaud (or don’t say anything about) Rihanna when she does something like this, but are quick to berate (or question) anyone else who does it -_-

  28. Briana says:

    I hate how people applaud (or don’t say anything about) Rihanna when she does something like this, but are quick to berate (or question) anyone else who does it -_-

  29. Brasileira says:

    “They were pretty rude to her, but Nicki holds a lot more power than they do. ”

    And exactly because Minaj [supposedly] holds a lot more power than they do, they should think twice before sh*tting on her. Also, if they do that to Minaj, who, supposedly, has more power than them, can you imagine what these idiots say in trying to attack us, the “common folks”?

    Go, Nicki!

  30. Bread and Circuses says:

    I feel so bad for Nikki Minaj. She is so, so talented, and so, so pretty, and yet she has these insecurity-driven issues like being over-zealously, knee-jerk hostile to people. Like, you’re a goddess, Nikki — figure out how to feel like one so you can start acting like one too.

  31. TOPgirl says:

    Nikki needs to grow the f up. I think she is disgusting as a human being, as a person. I don’t know the girl and don’t wanna.

  32. Tiff says:

    I love that she did it and I wish more celebs or everyday people who are being trolled would. Trolls troll because there is no accountability. Lets see how willing they are to throw out disgusting insults if their pictures get posted. Good for her!

  33. Marianne says:

    Was it really too far though? I mean, its not like she hacked their computers and got personal info. She just put their pictures (which already existed on Instagram) and put them on hers.