A week after her tear on Jay-Z, Perez, and Megan Thee Stallion, Minaj began to condemn Terrence “Punch” Henderson, SZA’s former manager and president of her label, Top Dawg Entertainment, or TDE. Nicki seemed to subliminally accuse Henderson of “bullying” her after she “rejected his business proposition on more than one occasion,” positing that he was out to damage her brand, though she didn’t provide details. She issued taunts towards Henderson with a photo of him in one post, and wrote “tiny dick executive,” seemingly a misnomer for the label TDE, in another. In others, she seemed to accuse Henderson of being involved in farming fake streams for TDE artists, calling him “Minus 30 Million.”
While Minaj didn’t say so herself, social media assumed her tirade began because Henderson posted the phrase “Broken Barbies” on X seemingly to promote a song of the same name by an artist named IAmLyric that he works with. While Nicki is widely known as “Barbie” and her fans are, of course, also called Barbz, Henderson’s posts nor the song he was promoting seem to have much to do with Nicki, but onlookers have assumed that they set her off.
When, in a similar timeframe, SZA posted on X, “Mercury retrograde .. don’t take the bait lol silly goose,” Minaj seemed to take that as an attack too, and reposted SZA’s note with her own: “Go draw your freckles back on bookie,” feeding into rumors that SZA lied about having natural freckles early in her career. Including her now customary and unrelated hashtags against Perez and in support of Perez’s daughter, Nicki added “Liar liar pants on fire. Sounding like a fkng dead dog.” Minaj went on to downplay SZA’s massive success by comparing it to her own, blast her looks, and discount SZA’s contributions to the Nicki Minaj and Beyoncé collaboration “Feeling Myself,” on which SZA is a writer.
“I don’t give a fuck bout none of that weird shit you popping,” SZA replied to Minaj’s first attack. SZA would later state that her “mercury retrograde” tweet wasn’t directed anyone or anything in particular. “I had just got off stage talkin bout retrograde . NIGGAS @‘d ME . The FUCK YES IM MAD NOW DO YOU NEED THAT !??,” she wrote in response to a fan of Minaj’s. “I get bullied by millions online every day then step my ass out onna packed stadium tour where ppl show me REAL love. IN REAL LIFE,” SZA had written earlier. “My parents are healthy and I’m the most successful I ever been. GET SOME FUCKING PERSPECTIVE n BARK AT THE WALL !!!” She decided to drop out of the tiff, posting, “Lmao lemme go back to being calm shy and meek,” but continued to share posts about her accomplishments, claiming her album SOS is approaching Diamond certification for selling nearly 10 million records, her debut CTRL sold 7 million copies, and her single “Love Galore” hit over 10 million units sold (the numbers on the official RIAA website, updated last in February of this year, don’t exactly match up, but are close).
When MackWop, a TDE affiliate, said in a video, “Nicki, relax before you get put in the blender like your boy did,” (the clip Minaj reposted doesn’t specify who “you boy” is but the rapper assumed he was “talking about Tory recently being stabbed up in what many believe to be a set up”), Minaj called upon the FBI and CIA investigate him for making “public threats.” She even wrote to Florida congresswoman Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, saying, “I want this thug locked up & I’m ready to talk about everything these ppl have done to me.” Luna wrote back to Minaj, “Please text my cell, I will forward this to law enforcement immediately. Threats of violence and assassination should be taken very seriously. Hope you’re ok, we’ll talk soon.”
