Nicki Minaj Denies Hiring Megan Thee Stallion's Ex-Friend For Promo |  HipHopDX

Nicki Minaj is saying it wasn’t her idea to get Megan Thee Stallion‘s former best friend to promote her new sneakers, despite her issues with the Texas rapper — Kelsey Nicole Harris did that all on her own.

Minaj posted her denial to X on Sunday (October 6). It was in response to reports that Harris had appeared in an ad for the rapper’s new sneaker line after she posted now-deleted photos on Instagram of her rocking the navy blue, pink and gold kicks while holding up a newspaper that features the headline: “The Nicki Minaj x LØCI Collection Has Landed !!”

Minaj said that while the photos appeared “professional looking,” she didn’t know about them until days later.

“Me, nor my company knew anything about it until she posted it. So she did what many ppl did when they received my sneakers, they posted a photo in them,” Minaj wrote.

“Kelsey def went all the way out with this professional looking backdrop tho…but she is in no way professionally connected to my sneaker brand.”

Minaj criticized outlets that called Harris’ post an ad, strongly implying with no evidence that The Shade Room had been paid to post their story about it.

“No matter what yall pay the Shaderoom to post, plz remember that I did a sold out record breaking tour & was then ASKED to do a 2nd leg,” she wrote. “Too busy & too successful for the clownery.”

Minaj closed her message by questioning whether Harris wanted people to think her post was an official ad.

“Btw, did Kelsey not tell them she wasn’t modeling for the line barbz?” she asked. “Did she just let them think that? I gotta get caught up yall.”

Check Nicki’s entire message below.

Megan Thee Stallion’s relationship with Kelsey fell apart after Tory Lanez shot the Houston rapper during a drunken dispute in the summer of 2020.

Harris witnessed the shooting and testified during the trial, although her turn on the stand did not go as many expected.

Harris had told prosecutors months before that she witnessed Tory threaten to shoot Megan inside an SUV before he opened fire.

But when questioned on the stand, Harris walked back her statements, claiming that she was “not truthful” that day and gave false information to “protect” herself.

It was also alleged that the argument leading up to the shooting was sparked by Tory sleeping with both Megan and Kelsey at the same time.

The shoe ad also comes months after a feud erupted between Megan Thee Stallion and Nicki Minaj, with the two rappers trading shots on “Hiss” and “Big Foot.”

The former saw Megan subliminally reference Nicki’s sex offender husband Kenneth “Zoo” Petty, rapping: “These hoes don’t be mad at Megan, these hoes mad at Megan’s Law.”

After initially hitting back on Instagram Live, the Pink Friday 2 rapper issued an official response with the vicious “Big Foot,” on which she mocked her former collaborator over the Tory Lanez shooting and the death of her mother.