Nicki Minaj may be fresh to death down to her shoes, but the shoes she's sporting won't be Giuseppe Zanotti's.
The 34-year-old rapper/actress recently blasted Zanotti for using her name to promote his shoes without an offer of compensation or collaboration. According to Minaj, she met Zanotti last year and he was inspired to design a sneaker in her honor, which she wore in the July 2015 issue of Cosmopolitan Magazine. Minaj tweeted that the designer communicated with her on one pair of sneakers but has since released a line of 23 pairs in her name without sharing the profits with her. She also accused Zanotti's publicists of ignoring her attempts to reach them.
"Your PR must've fell & bumped their head when they told my agency they weren't discussing anything with us," Minaj said in an Instagram post. "I'm giving you 24 hours...23 pairs of sneakers in my collection & they won't take a call?"
Minaj's public dragging of Zanotti caused the hashtags #Giuseppewhats good and #Runmemycheck to trend on Twitter yesterday. The shoes were also taken off the Zanotti website but Dear Old Nicki wasn't finished. As a peace offering, Minaj asked Zanotti to donate to St. Jude Children's hospital on her behalf and offered to match the donation for up to $500,000.
Nicki Minaj cited Scarlett Johansson and Jada Pinkett-Smith as examples of female stars speaking out against unequal pay. "Women are always shamed by other when speaking up in the work place. That's why women cont. to earn less," she said.
Minaj also accused Zanotti of racism saying, "Lil black girl can inspire u but ain't worth a collection my nig [sic]...he gon learn today. The racism & disrespect won't b tolerated."