Nicki Minaj Said Giuseppe Zanotti Won’t Take Her Calls After Brand Named Signature Sneakers After Her
Update: Nicki offers to match a $500,000 donation to St. Jude’s Hospital from the shoe company.
Nicki Minaj took to social media Friday morning to accuse Italian shoe designer Giuseppe Zanotti of "racism and disrespect."
According to tweets and Instagram posts sent from Minaj's accounts, the rapper felt insulted when the designer's representatives refused to discuss a collaboration, even though Minaj had previously inspired lines of Zanotti's footwear (some are pictured above).
"I met #GiuseppeZanotti years ago. At which time, he told me I inspired him to design a sneaker in my honor," she wrote. "Lil black girl can inspire u but ain't worth a collection my nig?"
She asked her fans to get the hashtags #RunMeMyCHECK and #GiuseppeWhatsGood trending on Twitter, and to post them as comments on the company's Instagram page. Read her tweets below:
The FADER has reached out for comment.
Update: February 3, 3:48 p.m.: Minaj continues to tweet, offers to match a $500,000 donation to St. Jude's Hospital from Zanotti.
The company has indeed appeared to remove the "Nicki" line of shoes from its US and UK online shops, but the shoes are still available for shipping to Canada.