Usher is reflecting on a resurfaced clip of him smacking Nicki Minaj’s butt during their 2014 VMAs performance.
“Usher, have you seen some of your old moments like when you [were] on stage with Nicki Minaj and you [were] headbutting her ass?” host Charlamagne tha God asked the singer during a Monday, February 19, appearance on The Breakfast Club. “Why [were] you so unhinged in that moment, Usher?”
Usher, 45, shared that the pair’s collaboration was inspired by “Jamaican culture” and their performance of “She Came To Give It To You” was meant to be “fun.” During the song, Usher was on his knees while he played the bass as Minaj, 41, rapped. In one moment, Usher’s head bumped into Minaj’s butt.
“It was me playing my bass so I probably would have bumped my shoulder or my hands, you know what I’m saying?” he said on Monday. “I had my bass in my hands so I just kind of bopped off her body a little bit.”
While Usher defended the idea of the performance, he ultimately admitted he took it a little too far when he playfully tapped Minaj’s butt after he got up off the floor.
“I think I was reaching a bit when I smacked her though, I shouldn’t have smacked her butt,” he confessed.
Following his realization, cohost Jess Hilarious subsequently responded, “See, you gotta lift her up,” to which Usher joked, “I mean, I was lifting.”
Minaj, for her part, has yet to react to the renewed chatter about the 2014 VMAs. The clip of the duo’s duet resurfaced on social media following Usher’s Super Bowl LVIII halftime performance. During the show, Usher brought out longtime friend and collaborator Alicia Keys. As they sang their hit song, “My Boo,” Usher raised eyebrows for some viewers when he wrapped his arms around Keys, 43, as they swayed to the ballad. During his Monday appearance, Usher explained that the moment between him and Keys wasn’t meant to be “viewed as bad.”
“It was literally about having fun because of a song that me and Alicia made many years ago,” he said. “And we celebrate it because of the legacy of it. And no disrespect to anybody or anything.”
Charlamagne tha God asked Usher whether he was on good terms with Keys and her husband, Swizz Beats, to which Usher shared that the trio shared a laugh about the memes that circulated online after the halftime show.
Following the performance, Beatz, 45, confirmed as much when he took to social media to gush about his wife’s special moment and called out fans criticizing the musicians.
“Y’all talking about the wrong damn thing !!! y’all don’t see that amazing dress covering the entire stadium ⚡️🚨😂😂😮💨😮💨😮💨😮💨,” he wrote via Instagram earlier this month. “Tonight’s performance was nothing but amazing with 2 amazing Giants! Congrats @usher and my love @aliciakeys that song is a classic 🤍. We don’t do negative vibes on this side we make history ✌🏽.”
