ADL speaks out on Nikki Minaj's new video

It's been a week since New York rapper and song writer Nikki Minaj's video for the single Only premièred, and it has drawn criticism from the Anti-Defamation League and fans alike.

The imagery in the video, as you can see from the promotional still, not only seems to glorify Nazism, it was actually intentional, video director Jeff Osborn said in a statement, though he maintains that neither he nor the video are anti-Semitic.

The YM displayed across Minaj's chest and on the red band spread across Chris Brown's cap and lapel stand for Young Money, representing Minaj's label. In the still, that's Canadian Jewish rap star Drake portraying a priest to Minaj's left.

Regarding Osborne's depiction of Young Money as a generic totalitarian regime, he says he's taken images and symbols from several countries and time periods to comment on the continued existence of such ideologies and social practices.

The ADL, however, doesn't buy it. "Nicky Minaj's new video disturbingly evokes Third Reich propaganda and constitutes a new low for pop culture's exploitation of Nazi symbolism."

Asked why the video was shot in black and white, with colour presented only in the form of the red banners with the YM logo imposed on a white background, akin to the look of a swastika, Osborne said: "The Young Money team came to me with a set of parameters in which they exactly stated: something black and white, dark, ominous, with hints of imagery like Sin City or Metalocalypse."

The song itself imagines what the experience would be like to sleep with Young Money's princess.

Share with us your thoughts after watching the video below.