What’s Beef? Were These Celebrity Beefs Staged For Publicity?

Nicki Minaj vs. Mariah Carey

Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey went from collaborating on a song together to going at each other’s throats as judges on “American Idol.” The two made headlines for their frothy exchange during auditions months before the season premiered and things remained icy between the two. The beef was very real and Minaj was left baffled as to the cause. “Imagine someone that you loved your whole life,” she said. “Imagine meeting them and then all of a sudden feeling like you did something horrible to them, but you just don’t know what you did. That’s what my relationship with Mariah is, and that’s what it’s been from the beginning.”

Beyonce, Jay Z vs. Solange

It was a family affair turned family scuffle for Beyonce, Jay Z and Solange on an elevator one fateful night last year. Surveillance video footage of Solange repeatedly hitting and karate-kicking her brother-in-law immediately went viral. The trio remained silent about the incident, only commenting it was a family matter, but Matthew Knowles went on record to say it was all fake. “There’s a tour going on,” he explained. “So you have to sometimes ignite that tour, it’s called a Jedi mind trick. The Jedi mind trick fools you a lot of time.”

Kevin Hart vs. Mike Epps

Mike Epps must have touched a nerve when he called Kevin Hart an “overrated” comedian because the “Real Husbands of Hollywood” star immediately took to twitter and fired back. The two comedians had a heated exchange over social media, but many weren’t convinced the beef between the two was real. According to sources, Epps was very serious, but the two hashed things out behind closed doors and buried the hatchet. “I just had a conversation on the phone with @TheRealMikeEpps where we addressed our issues directly. The conversation ended on a positive note,” Hart tweeted. “We both agreed that we are better than this bullsh*t and that we should’ve handled it differently! All is good now and we are putting it behind us.”

Kanye West vs. 50 Cent

For many hip-hop heads, the second Tuesday of September 2007 was a day that went down in history. Kanye West and 50 Cent were slated to release albums on the same day and in true 50 fashion, he declared war against West. The Queens rapper proclaimed himself the better emcee and promised to retire from rapping if West sold more albums. West came out the winner and five years later 50 admitted he had no problems with the Chicago emcee, and their beef was a publicity stunt aimed at selling records.

Britney Spears vs. Christina Aguilera

Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera got their start together on “The Mickey Mouse Club” but their sketchy decade plus friendship has left a lot of people confused. There’s no denying the shots the pop divas have aimed at each other through the years. Many believe that their feud could have stemmed from being pitted against each other by their respective record labels. Aguilera reignited their long-running beef earlier this year by impersonating the “Toxic” singer on the season finale of “The Voice.” Dressed up like her nemesis in a Catholic schoolgirl uniform, Aguilera insulted Spears’ intelligence with the crack, “How do the singers know you turned around if everyone is blind?” Spears was reportedly upset over the skit.

Jimmy Kimmel vs. Kanye West

Kanye West has been the butt of late night television jokes before, but Jimmy Kimmel’s parody of the Chicago rapper a few years ago sent Yeezy over the edge. Kimmel hired a child actor to portray West in a recreation of his BBC interview. West wasn’t too keen on skit and lashed out at Kimmel over Twitter in one of his infamous rants. A couple weeks later West appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” making many question whether their public fiasco was real. The two revealed on the show that it wasn’t a publicity stunt.

Eminem vs. Sasha Baron Cohen as “Bruno”

Eminem had an up close and personal view of Sasha Baron Cohen’s bare backside during the 2009 MTV Movie Awards and didn’t take too kindly to it either. Baron, dressed up as the character Bruno, fell from the rafters and ended up inches from Eminem’s face. Disgusted, the Detroit rapper shoved the actor off of him and stormed out. A few days later Eminem later confessed that Cohen concocted the entire incident. “After the ceremony I went back to my hotel and laughed uncontrollably for about three hours,” Eminen said about his abrupt departure. “Especially after I saw it on-air.”

https://instagram.com/p/10NQdRML1O/

Floyd “Money” Mayweather vs. 50 Cent

There was a time when 50 Cent and Floyd “Money” Mayweather were the epitome of a bromance. They were so close that when Mayweather turned himself in to serve a 60-day sentence stemming from a domestic violence charge, 50 was right by his side. But shortly after the boxing champ’s release from jail, something went wrong. The two traded jabs over social media and 50 even challenged his former BFF to a “reading challenge.” Due to his past, many felt the sudden change in their attitudes were staged. Turns out their beef stemmed from a disagreement over money. Earlier this year the two reunited shortly before Mayweather faced Manny Pacquiao in the ring.

Monica vs. Brandy

Brandy and Monica had a hit on their hands with “The Boy Is Mine,” but the feud between the two young R&B starlets proved to be even more interesting. During an interview several years ago, Monica confessed that the media first manufactured the beef and the two just ran with it. “They kind of create it first, and we were young enough to just fall into the traps,” Monica said. “We couldn’t tell you a specific reason that any of that happened.” All grown up, the two settled their differences and teamed up once again for 2012’s “It All Belongs To Me.”

https://instagram.com/p/5_LP2yDQNF/

Drake vs. Common

Before there was Drake versus Meek Mill, there was Drake versus Common. In November 2011, Common fired the first shot and the Canadian rapper retaliated with a diss song of his own. Their beef seemed to come out of nowhere and many scratched their heads over the cause. Two months later, Drake waved the white flag while accusing Common of starting all the drama around the same time his album The Dreamer, The Believer dropped. “It’s a ploy for attention around the release of an album,” Drake said. A month later, the two were seen hugging it out at the NBA All-Star game. We still have some inkling that the drama could have started over Common’s old boo Serena Williams, who has been snuggling up to Drake on-and-off again.