Steven Tyler Says He’s No “Racist”, Apologizes To Nicki Minaj Over ‘Idol’ Comments

Former American Idol judge Steve Tyler is sorry that current Idol judge Nicki Minaj took his recent criticism as racist but he doesn’t know why she had that interpretation in the first place. “I am the last thing on this planet as far as being a racist. I don’t know where she got that out of me saying I’m not sure how she would have judged Bob Dylan,” the Aerosmith frontman said on Canadian TV yesterday.  “I apologize if it was taken wrong, Nicki,” Tyler told eTalk. Minaj has not responded to the latest remarks.

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On Monday, Tyler lashed out at Minaj and the present group of Idol judges over the way they worked with contestants on the Fox show. “If it was Bob Dylan, Nicki Minaj would have had him sent to the cornfield!” Tyler said. That comment sent Minaj into a Twitter flurry. “I understand you really wanted to keep your job but take that up with the producers. I haven’t done anything to you. That’s a racist comment,” she wrote, adding several other tweets on the topic afterward. Tyler, who was on Idol from 2010-2012, has been doing the media rounds the past few weeks promoting a new Aerosmith album. Minaj, whose feud with fellow new Idol judge Mariah Carey has been a source of speculation of late, is on tour in Australia. She’s pushing her new album Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded — The Re-Up.