Mariah Carey Instigated Nicki Minaj Feud Says ‘American Idol’ Producer

Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj famously got into a seriously nasty feud when they both appeared on American Idol back in 2013, and now those behind the scenes of the show are confirming that the drama was all Mariah’s doing.

Mike Darnell, Fox’s president of alternative programming, and former American Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe recently spoke out about the nasty feud that boiled over between Carey and Minaj four years ago in a new interview with Andy Cohen at the TV Academy, where they confirmed that Nicki was “not the problem” during the feud drama.

Darnell, who left American Idol in 2013 following Carey and Minaj’s feud during Season 12, spilled the beans on Carey and Minaj’s seriously bad blood according to E! News, calling their feud “raw and real” during a candid new interview.

“The one you think was the problem – she wasn’t the problem,” Darnell said, referring to Mariah’s part in the drama, before fellow producer Nigel Lythgoe confirmed, “Nicki was not the problem.”

Nigel then confirmed that there’s even more footage of Carey and Minaj’s nasty fall outs during the American Idol audition process in addition to the one that leaked four years ago that brought their feud to the nation’s attention for the first time, claiming that “there are tapes buried in chainsaw.”

Darnell then called working with Mariah and Nicki a “nightmare experience” during the single season both were on the judging panel, but claimed that he “honestly” didn’t know how the initial footage of Minaj and Carey seriously getting into it on the set leaked, despite rumors Nicki, Mariah or even American Idol producers leaked the clip to gain viewers by publicizing their beef.

Nicki and Mariah’s epic fight footage was obtained by TMZ back in 2012 and showed Carey and Minaj caught in a seriously nasty war of words while auditioning talent in North Carolina for Season 12 alongside fellow judges Keith Urban and Randy Jackson.

Nicki can be heard throwing some major shade in the video by telling Mariah in the clip “I’m gonna knock you out” before Minaj then told Carey “off with your head!”

“Every time you take a shot at me I’ma take it back, and if you gotta f****** problem then handle it,” Nicki continued in the leaked American Idol video that hit the headlines four years ago. “I told them, I’m not f******* putting up with your f****** highness over there… figure it the f**** out.”

Mariah Carey then went on to claim that her and Nicki Minaj’s feud was actually the fault of American Idol’s producers around two years after the footage leaked while calling her time sitting alongside Minaj on the judging panel the “worst experience” of her life during an interview with Australia’s Kyle & Jackie O radio show.

“I’m not going to get into what it was. Let’s just say, I don’t think they had any intentions of us having a good experience through that show,” Carey said of her and Minaj’s feud according to BET, accusing American Idol producers of pitting her and Nicki against another because they were the only two females on the judging panel.

“Pitting two females against each other wasn’t cool,” Mariah added of how she was pitted against Nicki.

Despite the leaked tape and confirmation from American Idol producers that Carey and Minaj were definitely locked in a nasty feud, Mariah then claimed at the time that her and Nicki’s feud wasn’t all it seemed.

“It should have been about the contestants,” Mariah said of the beef drama between herself and Nicki, “instead of about some non-existent feud that turned into even more ridiculousness.”

But while Mariah claimed two years ago that the feud was “non-existent,” Minaj and Carey’s have only continued to diss each other and throw major shade in the years that followed, seemingly confirming their beef was – and still is – very real.

Mariah and Nicki’s feud boiled over again just last week after Carey teamed up with Minaj’s other feud partner Remy Ma for a remix of her single, “I Don’t.”

“Anything that Mariah can do that would get under Nicki’s skin is something she will be interested in at all times,” a source told Hollywood Life of how Minaj and Carey’s feud is continuing years after their American Idol drama, calling Carey’s decision to work with Ma after she went off on the “Anaconda” in two scathing diss tracks last month “calculated.”

“Working with other artists that share her hate for Nicki is something that gets the creative juices flowing for Mariah,” continued the source Mariah and Nicki’s continuing feud. “Plan on seeing more subtle shade like this coming from Mariah real soon.”

What do you think of American Idol producers claiming Mariah Carey and Nicki Minaj’s nasty feud was allegedly all instigated by Mariah?

[Featured Image by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images and Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]