Mainstream celebrity circa 2012 is a very ugly thing. With arts and entertainment of all sorts becoming more and more fragmented and targeted it’s possible to avoid the ‘mainstream’ altogether. And, frankly, that’s a wise choice–with few exception mainstream popularity means that an artist has found a ‘lowest common denominator’ that resonates with dim witted, mouth breathing freaks in flyover country who lack the intelligence or motivation to look for anything beyond what they are spoonfed.
Among this group the topic de jour is a highly pedestrian and forgettable ‘feud’ brewing between a couple of marginal celebrities on a show that long ago ‘jumped the shark’. Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey are up in each other’s business on ‘American Idol’ and the unwashed masses are treating what is likely an orchestrated and ‘worked’ feud with the significance of the first moon landing. Seems that the C-list ‘divas’ are judges on this season’s ‘American Idol’ and that there’s just too much ego for one room.
For her part–and with the ’15 minutes of fame’ promised by Andy Warhol ticking away–Minaj has positioned herself as a populist. According to the storyline she doesn’t like the way that Carey always ‘puts herself over’ instead of actually critiquing the contestants. One ‘source’ explains:
“She keeps bringing up how many records she’s sold, name dropping people she’s worked with, how many tours she’s done, and how many Grammys or awards she’s won … Nicki is tired of it.”
And since Minaj fancies herself a ‘rapper’ it wouldn’t be proper for a feud to escalate without the threat of violence. Mariah at one point threatens to go upside Nicki’s head while like any good rapper Minaj responds by threatening to go ‘get her gat’. Actually, Minaj said “If I had a gun I would shoot her.” which Idol publicists were quick to spin as ‘not a death threat’.
Idol host Ryan Seacreast (yet another mainstream ‘celebrity’ with no discernible talent)is apparently going to egg them on knowing that the train wreck will be good for the ratings of the shopworn ersatz talent contest. Seacrest dismissed suggests that the two hens be separated noting: “We want that! We want them to be on this panel together.” For whatever reason, the tiff has generated interest in the short term but it may not have ‘legs’–the New York Daily News has already relegated Carey v. Minaj to their ash heap of ‘Worst Celebrity Feuds’ along with such marginal celeb slapfights as Shia LaBeouf vs. Frankie Muniz and Lindsay Lohan vs. George Lopez.
