Steven Tyler Apologizes To Nicki Minaj, But Insists He's Not Racist

Former "American Idol" judge Steven Tyler responded to Nicki Minaj after the controversial rapper and new "Idol" judge said Tyler's criticism of her judging was "racist."
"I apologize if it was taken wrong, Nicki," Tyler told Canada's "eTalk" in the interview above. "I'm the last thing on this planet as far as being a racist. I don't know where she got that out of me saying, 'I'm not sure how she would have judged Bob Dylan.' I was just saying that if Bob Dylan came on the show, he would've been thrown off. Maybe I spoke out of turn, but a racist I'm not, Nicki."
The back-and-forth started when Tyler critiqued the feuding between Minaj and fellow new judge Mariah Carey. Tyler said that the contentious environment was not conducive to nurturing talent. "I know that they've got something going on on the judges' panel, [and] it shouldn't be that, it should be just the opposite: They should have something going on, which is called 'camaraderie," Tyler told MTV News.
Taking the point further, Tyler theorized that the current panel would have thrown a young Bob Dylan off the show, which Minaj took offense to. "You just have to give your opinion ... These kids, they just got out of a car from the Midwest somewhere and they're in New York City, they're scared to death. If it was Bob Dylan, Nicki Minaj would have had him sent to the cornfield! Whereas, if it was Bob Dylan with us, we would have brought the best of him out, as we did with Phillip Phillips."