Nicki Minaj Is Opening the VMAs Despite Miley’s Eyebrow-Raising Comments About Her

Less than 24 hours after Miley did that bonkers interview with Jimmy Kimmel — in which she confessed that her grandma is Snoop Dogg's biggest fan while wearing heart-shaped pasties and pretty much nothing else — she's back with another one-on-one that has people talking.

Miley sat down with the New York Times, ostensibly to discuss her upcoming MTV Video Music Awards hosting gig. Before long, talk turned to Nicki Minaj and Taylor Swift's now-resolved drama sparked by VMA nominations.

Here's what she had to say:

What did you make of the Nicki Minaj controversy around the V.M.A.s — that she was upset “Anaconda” wasn’t nominated for Video of the Year?

I saw that. I didn’t really get into it. I know there was some beef. I don’t really know. There’s a way to talk to people ...

Do you know what she said?

She was saying that everyone was white and blonde that got nominated, I heard? And then Taylor Swift butted in.

She may have alluded to “Wrecking Ball” also, saying that when a naked white girl breaks a Vevo record she gets nominated.

I didn’t follow it. You know what I always say? Not that this is jealousy, but jealousy does the opposite of what you want it to — that’s a yoga mantra. People forget that the choices that they make and how they treat people in life affect you in a really big way. If you do things with an open heart and you come at things with love, you would be heard and I would respect your statement. But I don’t respect your statement because of the anger that came with it.

And it’s not anger like, “Guys, I’m frustrated about some things that are a bigger issue.”

You made it about you. Not to sound like a bitch, but that’s like, “Eh, I didn’t get my V.M.A.”

But she was ——

If you want to make it about race, there’s a way you could do that. But don’t make it just about yourself. Say: “This is the reason why I think it’s important to be nominated. There’s girls everywhere with this body type.”

I think she did say that ——

What I read sounded very Nicki Minaj, which, if you know Nicki Minaj is not too kind. It’s not very polite. I think there’s a way you speak to people with openness and love. You don’t have to start this pop star against pop star war. It became Nicki Minaj and Taylor in a fight, so now the story isn’t even on what you wanted it to be about. Now you’ve just given E! News “Catfight! Taylor and Nicki Go at It.”

I know you can make it seem like, Oh I just don’t understand because I’m a white pop star. I know the statistics. I know what’s going on in the world. But to be honest, I don’t think MTV did that on purpose.

Ouch. To be fair, Miley admitted to the reporter that she hadn't been following the controversy, so she was speaking from an uninformed standpoint. It was very zen of her to reference a yoga mantra, but she probably should have stopped there instead of calling the rapper's outburst impolite...especially after saying that Taylor Swift butted into the drama a few seconds earlier.

Hours after the story was published, MTV announced that none other than Nicki Minaj would be the opening performer at Sunday night's awards show. The timing was probably nothing more than coincidence, but it is awfully ironic that the rapper was added to the lineup so soon after Miley, the host of the evening, suggested that Nicki makes everything about her.

The singers have been friendly in the past — they were photographed looking like old pals at the Grammys back in February — so they could surprise us with a special relationship-mending duet at the show. Who knows? With Miley hosting, anything can happen. An apology is probably in order first, though...

Related: How Taylor Swift's Apology to Nicki Minaj Makes an Important Statement About Feminism