'The Ellen DeGeneres Show' under fire for Nicki Minaj parody

Nicki Minaj fans deemed the skit offensive.

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Complex Original

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Nicki Minaj recently announced plans to launch a sitcom about her childhood in Queens and her family from Trinidad and Tobago. Many fans expressed excitement for the project, including talk show host Ellen DeGeneres. But when DeGeneres produced a parody of the soon-to-be sitcom on Monday, some Twitter users found her humor inappropriate.

The 57-year-old comedian joked that she had a "very exclusive sneak peek" from Minaj herself prior to revealing the skit.

“It was just announced that Nicki Minaj is producing a sitcom based on her childhood growing up in Queens, New York,” DeGeneres said. “It’s not on the air yet, but I called in a favor and I was able to get us a very exclusive sneak peek. This is totally real, not something we put together as a joke.”

In the skit, a young Nicki is berated by her mother about leaving her sneakers on the living room floor. What starts as a cute interaction becomes problematic once little Nicki turns around, revealing an oversized prosthetic buttocks.

Many took to Twitter to express their disappointment in Ellen's decision to produce the skit.

Some went as far as comparing it to a modern-day minstrel show:

 
the Ellen show has been garbage TV for a while-only interested in rewarding gay white mediocrity, but the Nicki Minaj sketch = last straw.
Ellen DeGeneres disappointed me w/ that Nicki Minaj skit. It was lazy and tasteless at best. Racist & a modern day minstrel show at worst.
I'm not surprised by much anymore, but The Ellen Show's "parody" of Nicki Minaj's sitcom is so bad it's stunning. http://t.co/KBYHIoBnIf
Thanks to Nicki Minaj, Ellen DeGeneres is the only talk show host to have a video that has reached 100M views. pic.twitter.com/6OQqhDJ0Np

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