Nicki Minaj aim at Miley Cyrus in tense VMAs onstage stand-off

One of pop music's ugliest feuds kicked off at the MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday (30Aug15) when Nicki Minaj hissed at show host Miley Cyrus for remarks she made about her in a recent newspaper interview.

Concluding her Best Hip-Hop Video acceptance speech halfway through the show, Minaj spotted Cyrus walking onto the stage to continue the ceremony and attacked her for comments she was quoted as making in a New York Times piece last week (ends28Aug15).

Cyrus appeared to attack Minaj in the article for comments she made on social media after her Anaconda video failed to land a VMAs Video of the Year nomination, saying, "I don't respect your statement because of the anger that came with it. And it’s not anger like, 'Guys, I'm frustrated about some things that are a bigger issue'. You made it about you. Not to sound like a b**ch, but that’s like, 'Eh, I didn’t get my VMA...' What I read sounded very Nicki Minaj, which, if you know Nicki Minaj, is not too kind. It’s not very polite."

The rapper snarled, "And now back to this b**ch that had a lot to say about me the other day in the press. Miley, what's good?"

The show host responded to angry Minaj onstage, stating, "Hey, we're all in this industry, we all do interviews and we all know how they manipulate s**t. Nicki, congratulations."

But the feud continued as Minaj pointed and gestured towards Miley across the stage and the irritated host played with her hair extensions, sighed and shook her head. She then antagonized Minaj further by shooting her a glance as she said "losers" while talking about the nominees for the night's Artist to Watch Award, adding, "I lost this award back in 2008 and I was fine with it. Whatever!"

Minaj appeared to be in a friendlier place when she kicked off the 2015 VMAs by inviting Taylor Swift onstage to perform The Night is Still Young.

The rap diva, wearing a fiery red African-themed gown and matching headdress, welcomed Swift in an attempt to prove once and for all their social media rift was forgotten. The hitmakers fell out when Swift took offense to Minaj's Anaconda snub tweet, because she thought the hip-hop star was taking aim at her. Minaj quickly explained she was actually trying to make a point about race, prompting Swift to apologize.

And on Sunday (30Aug15) the two stars seemed keen to show the world that any bad blood between them was no more as they joined forces to open the show. Poking fun at their overblown beef, Minaj and Swift also performed a brief snippet of the latter's Bad Blood before hugging awkwardly.

But it appeared there was still a little tension between the two hitmakers later on during the show, when Minaj stepped up to accept the Best Hip-Hop Video award for Anaconda. Stepping slowly up to the stage at the Microsoft Theater, the rapper blanked a standing Swift and ignored her as she walked past.