Lil Wayne has called out former NBA champion Kendrick Perkins for throwing shade at Nicki Minaj while discussing Jimmy Butler’s trade to the Golden State Warriors.
Talking about the blockbuster move (which also saw the Miami Heat acquire Kyle Anderson, Andrew Wiggins and Golden State’s protected 2025 first-round pick) on ESPN last week, Perkins said: “I’m thinking that the Warriors are gonna go out there and get a Beyoncé or a Taylor Swift. They end up getting a Nicki Minaj.”
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After his co-hosts expressed shock at his statement and warned him about Nicki’s notorious fanbase, the Barbz, the former Boston Celtics big man welcomed the backlash by saying: “I ain’t hard to find.”
Wayne, who signed Minaj to Young Money imprint over 15 years ago and has remained a close friend and collaborator, didn’t take kindly to the comments and fired back at Perkins on social media.
“The Warriors thought they was getting a Taylor Swift or a Beyoncé and ended up getting a #kendrickperkins Stop playin bish,” he wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
Kendrick Perkins says the Warriors wanted a Beyoncé/Taylor Swift but ended up with a Nicki Minaj 😬
(h/t @ohnohedidnt24) pic.twitter.com/7ipKaZ0yO3
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) February 6, 2025
The Warriors thought they was getting a Taylor Swift or a Beyoncé and ended up getting a #kendrickperkins Stop playin bish
— Lil Wayne WEEZY F (@LilTunechi) February 8, 2025
Perkins has since apologized for his remarks after facing the wrath of Nicki’s fans.
“Wish I would’ve known about the Barbz before my Nicki Minaj take… don’t charge it to my heart [crying face emoji],” he wrote on X. “My apologies, I don’t want no smoke!”
He also said during a follow-up episode of NBA Today: “Let me apologize to Nicki Minaj and the Barbz. They’ve been on my ass like pockets. I apologize, I’m a fan. Please forgive me. I don’t want no smoke.”
Wish I would’ve known about the Barbz before my Nicki Minaj take… don’t charge it to my heart 🤣
My apologies, I don’t want no smoke!
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) February 7, 2025
Kendrick Perkins issues a public apology to nicki minaj and the barbz after disrespecting her :
"Barbz been on my a**, i apologise, i’m a fan.. forgive me i, i don’t want no smoke"pic.twitter.com/XbZzSUWRWG
— welp. (@YSLONIKA) February 8, 2025
This is not the first apology that Nicki Minaj has received as of late. Last December, Erica Mena said sorry to the “Starships” rapper over their mutual ex, Safaree Samuels.
Appearing on Bunnie XO’s Dumb Blonde podcast, Mena said she realized that Safaree had been cheating on her, which made her re-think her previously negative opinion of Minaj — an opinion, she admitted, that had been influenced by Safaree’s lies.
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“I owe her the biggest apology ever,” the reality star said.
Mena explained that because she was being “love bombed” by Safaree, she took him at his word when he discussed “all the things [Nicki] did to him.”
“It’s funny how life comes full circle,” she noted. “Because the same thing he did to her, he’s doing to me years later.
“I remember him pouring his heart out to me about all the stuff she did to him, showing me videos of her reacting. I didn’t think to ask, well, what did you do to her?”
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Mena also recalled that Safaree was at one point “saying whatever he could to ruin [Minaj’s] career and take [credit] for her…work.”
“I owe this woman an apology because I sat there and allowed him to talk about her to me. And from that came me defending and vouching for him in a way that was tacky, because at the end of the day, I didn’t know the truth,” Mena concluded.
