This article mentions child sex abuse and rape.
As you are probably aware, things erupted between Nicki Minaj and Megan Thee Stallion last week — with many believing that Nicki went too far.
Fast-forward to last month, and Megan released her new single “Hiss,” which includes the lyric: “These hoes don't be mad at Megan / These hoes mad at Megan's Law."
However, Nicki took it as a slight against her husband and brother, who are both convicted sex offenders.
So, while Nicki wasn’t even mentioned in “Hiss,” she took Megan’s reference to “Megan’s Law” incredibly personally, and went on a social media rampage against the rapper in retaliation.
Some of Nicki’s dedicated fans, known as Barbz, then threatened to go to the cemetery to deface the grave, with TMZ reporting earlier this week that the cemetery in question had notified local authorities and increased security personnel in light of the threats.
And before long, people were comparing the messy situation to the infamous feud between Rihanna and Teyana Taylor more than a decade ago.
But when Rihanna’s fans mobilized against Teyana online, RiRi stepped in when she saw tweets that she felt crossed a line.
In December 2014, a fan shared screenshots of DMs that they had received from their idol after they tweeted about Teyana’s dead grandmother.
“Not childish! Just hurtful and wrong! If you said that shit about Dolly, I couldn’t fuck wit you! Y’all gotta know the difference between stanning and fuck shit,” Rihanna retorted, with Dolly the nickname of the star’s grandmother who died in 2012.
“Rihanna’s reaction when fans were bringing up the fact that Teyana Taylor’s grandmother passed >>> this is how you control your fans,” one person tweeted as they shared the screenshots on Thursday.
The tweet has since been seen more than a million times, racking up 10s of thousands of likes and retweets as other users shared their agreement.
“Luv that she said ‘not childish just wrong,’” somebody else pointed out. “Bc they luv to hide behind that like they don’t know what they’re doing / saying.”
“If u need someone to tell u it’s wrong to bring up dead relatives then u just need to get offline period,” one more agreed.
Rihanna and Teyana have since put their beef behind them, and in 2018, they even posed together at Coachella — but only time will tell whether Nicki and Megan are able to follow suit.
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 (HOPE), which routes the caller to their nearest sexual assault service provider. You can also search for your local center here.