"A modern day minstrel show": The internet slams Ellen for offensive Nicki Minaj parody

Ellen Degeneres aired a pretty stupid parody of Nicki Minaj’s forthcoming kids show on “Ellen” this morning, and the internet was not happy about it.

In the parody, “young Nicki Minaj” is revealed to have a massive butt, after which we see that both her parents also have massive butts. This is the entire premise of the bit. As Degeneres herself deadpanned after it aired, "They have big butts, that’s the joke.”

Naturally, people were quick to call out the offensive sketch, which Rich Juzwiak at Gawker aptly dubbed "modern minstrelsy.” While Ellen and Nicki are old pals, the host, or at least someone on her staff, should have thought better than to use Nicki's body as a cheap punchline.