Individuals who criticized Nicki Minaj last month amid her feud with Megan Thee Stallion say they’re exploring legal options after they were doxxed online.
According to an article published by Time, several individuals who spoke out in response to Minaj’s diss track “Big Foot” say they were doxxed by Minaj’s fanbase, known as the Barbz, in retaliation.
Per the Atlantic, “doxxing” is a term that refers to the uncovering and deliberate weaponization of private and personal information.
Now, the victims are reportedly looking for ways to legally defend themselves by gathering as many details as possible about the people who shared their personal details online.
Erick Louis, a creator on TikTok, told Time that a day after uploading a video criticizing Minaj’s “Big Foot” track, he got a call from his brother saying that a pizza that no one ordered has been delivered to him. Suddenly, Louis’ phone was blowing up with numerous phone calls by unknown numbers.
“My phone starts blowing up with text messages, and I'm getting FaceTime calls back to back to back,” said Louis, 24. “It was a hectic situation to be in. I was nervous and on edge the whole time.”
“My heart dropped to my stomach,” added Louis. “I was thinking of the various ways it could have escalated and how this not only endangered my life had I been there but also the lives of my mother and my two younger brothers who were in the house. These are people I’m responsible for.”
A former Minaj fan, Bela Delgado, told the magazine that they once ran fan accounts for the rapper in 2017.
“Once she started associating herself with certain people, I couldn’t really defend her anymore,” said Delgado, referring to people like Tekashi 6ix9ine, who pled guilty to using a minor for a sexual performance.
Delgado uploaded, and later deleted, a two-minute video response about being disappointed in Minaj following the release of “Big Foot.” It didn’t take long for the harassment to come towards them and their family members.
“They were sending pretty graphic messages, fantasizing about what they would like to do to me. It got pretty out of hand, pretty fast,” said Delgado. “If you do something to me, that’s me. Whereas I’m seeing addresses for distant family members or people I don’t even know, now it's people that I have nothing to do with, and their safety is resting on my conscience.”
Delgado continued, “It was an interesting experience being attacked by a fan base I used to be a part of, some of the same stan pages I used to be mutuals with at one point, trying to doxx me. Some of these fan accounts I recognized from 2017 and before. I just thought, ‘Wow, you’re still at it?’”
On the other hand, Louis said he was able to track down the person who doxxed him and threatened to file a report with the cybercrime division of the FBI. After some back and forth with Louis and an alleged admission on X Spaces (an audio conversation platform), the woman subsequently deleted her account.
Ebony Jasmine Harris, shared a similar experience with the publication, where she was doxxed after uploading a video of herself performing a diss at Minaj from the perspective of Megan.
“They started ordering pizzas and salads and shit to my parent’s house; they were contacting my parents’ jobs and harassing my parents because my phone number is not listed,” said Harris, adding that a fan managed to send her video footage from outside of her gated community.
“They're doing their absolute best to try and get accounts taken down to make people feel scared and intimidated to speak out,” Harris added. “I just feel that if [Minaj] chooses to use her power negatively and she has the ability to stop them from doing this and she refuses to speak out against it, it says more about her as an individual.”
According to entertainment attorney Lauren Kilgore, there is no clear cut path for obtaining justice for doxxing victims.
“The legislative landscape is nuanced and uncertain, especially with ongoing discussions in Congress about crafting anti-doxxing legislation that must delicately balance free speech rights against privacy protections. This becomes particularly relevant when the information shared is already publicly accessible, albeit repurposed to cause harm,” Kilgore told Time.
Prior to the release of Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 album, the rapper asked her fans to “never threaten anyone on [her] behalf.”
“Whether on the internet or in person. Whether in jest, or not. I don’t & never have condoned that,” she wrote on her Instagram Story.
