Just Dance 2014 launched at the start of October and commercials for the game have been airing recently in the UK. However, these adverts have come under fire for questionable lyrics — watch the video below and listen out around the 10 second mark:
You'll hear Nicky Minaj utter the line "My name is Onika, you can call me Nicki” from her song Starships. However, some are suggesting that she's actually saying "N*****" instead of "Onika".
GoNintendo — a site which clearly has a greater knowledge of the work of Minaj than us — is claiming that the N-Bomb isn't featured in either the clean or explicit versions of the song.
However, people have taken to Twitter to complain about the advert and the misheard lyric, which is sure to cause Nintendo and Ubisoft a headache. While this is clearly a case of people mistaking a word for something offensive, you would have thought that someone at either company would have been aware that confusion was possible, and decided against using the song.
[source dailystar.co.uk]
Comments 79
That's ridiculous. The word people think they are hearing doesn't even make sense in that context. People just love to see controversy when there is none.
The fact that people know who that Nick Minaj guy is, is what blow's my mind...
...and that slur means ignorant, just like the people complaining about the commercial to begin with...
i really does sound like she says that slur word tho
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqTpqIUWVrc
You know, if stupid people wanted to not know what the lyrics of the song were, they could've at least complained when the song actually came out OVER A YEAR AGO.
These are probably the same morons that still think Born in the USA is a pro-American song.
A simple solution would have been to add captions for the lyrics in the commercial.
@Tsuchinoko or even better people just need to stop letting everything f****** thing they hear bother them.
Honestly this country is becoming a joke. How come we can support a game like GTA 5 breaking all these records with the obscene content that the game includes and people let there children play and the next minute something trivial like this happens and the country is up in arms!
If you get worked up over this then you should probably get a hobby, or some fresh air. This is so petty it makes me think someone at a rival company is complaining just for the sake of it
who cares?.....
Maybe the people reviewing the ad knew the lyrics and didn't think about what it sounds like. If someone has a suggestion in their mind they will hear what they think they are supposed to hear. Probably a lot of people complaining only started complaining once they heard what they thought they should hear after listening to the ad again.
Ironically this is probably the most media exposure that Nintendo have had since they launched the Wii U.
After listening to the ad a few times, I can hear her say the lyric and the mistaken lyric. If I hadn't read this article I just would have no idea what she said.
I wouldn't have noticed. That song is so appalling that I'd never have let the advert stay on the screen for more than 3 seconds.
@SetupDisk touche!
I listened to that ad a couple and times and I just couldn't hear what all these people are supposedly hearing.
@Boukman Ha ha that was really funny! Is it from a film or a TV programme?
@Kirk It's at 10 seconds. What a silly situation, why on Earth should Nintendo and Ubisoft be in trouble just because some people thought they heard something that they didn't?
Ha! If people weren't making such a fuss over this, barely anyone woul've noticed!
Too bad Nicki, they foiled your evil plan of spreading racism yet again...
I really could care less. I'm black, and the word doesn't affect me at all. The word itself means ignorant, so really the only people who care are those it applies to, I.E. tge ignorant.
People have been saying this word for decades IRL, songs, radio, movies, games (PSBOX & Gamecube True Crime: The Streets of LA/New York)... So what's all the hoopla about
@Squashy It's from Kentucky Fried Movie. A parody on American TV from the 1977. Some of it is dated, but other scenes are still brilliant.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Occg29DsI7k
That duckface sums up the whole thing.
Few other expressions could convey the level of stupidity that you would have to exhibit to hear something that does not even make sense in the context.
Um So...
@Squashy You silly, the title of the movie was right there on the video
@Pinkspider Oh believe me, the UK is not the only country that has those issues, not by a long shot.
@Cohort Do you mean with things associated with the WiiU? The 3DS is going just fiiiine. As a huge fan of my lovely 3DS (who lives in Japan) I get really comfy with having what I feel is the top system...until I hear all of the WiiU news. Kinda brings me down to earth a bit.
lol this reminds me of the controversy caused by buck rogers and his line about funk & wagnall's which was misheard as f***ing wagnall's
So Ubisoft make an advert and Sainsbury's and Nintendo are to blame? This random bloke on twitter is an idiot. He probably works for the daily star though.
Idk about hearing the N word.. but i do hear "sure as poop" when the person tipes in "EPIC" on the pc i never hear lirics very well eniway.. makes my frends and family laff with what i think some songs say
this is just stupid. Minaj uses language worse than that in her own music, and other "artists" use worse language that her! by now, probably everybody's heard her song on the radio or on her album or something, so no one should be surprised even if she's saying a racial slur. i guarantee no one cared when it's just the song, but since it's nintendo that their working with, and since everyone has the idea that nintendo is for kids, it's suddenly a big deal.
Sad.
I really couldn't figure out the word until I read the comments. Is that even considered a bad word? I mean, I know some find it offensive but...
@Haxonberik
I think it goes without saying that it's a bad word....
And bad is putting it mildly.
Just using Nikki Minaj music was the first mistake...!
People need to get over themselves. This poopiedoodlecacapoopsiedoos is so stupid.
I'm pretty sure she said "I'm the second shooter, I killed JFK".
Somebody should go arrest her.
see what happens when you use lame music from Nikki Minaj -_- its a sign take it and dont use her music
anyway why is nintendo getting the blame on this?can they go slap themselves plz?
Are any black people complaining about this?
What can you do about people who WANT to be offended?
Very little.
@Pod Except inevitably offending them.
If you knew the song then you would know that's not what she's saying.
Ugh, why did you include the picture of it?!
@SanderEvers HOW DARE YOU SAY "WORD" ON A PUBLIC WEBSITE.WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE! ...a thousand pardons for using controvesial words when talking to you
Nintendo and Ubisoft (or just Ubisoft?) will eventually just dance out of this somehow.
hey guys, please note that we don't allow use of the word in question here as per our Community Rules, not even when used in example. Please stop. Thanks in advance!
I knew her music was garbage... can't understand a word she's saying.
Forget the misheard racial slur; I'm just offended to hear Nicki Minaj's voice.
A manufactured outrage to sell more trash papers, and ignoramuses on Twitter join in. There's no real issue here.
Either way, IT'S JUST A WORD!! If you take offense at the word then it is you that gives it power! This is silly!
I wonder why the same song didn't cause mayham over the radio?
Controversy for the sake of controversy. Nothing to see here folks
I don't even like her, but she clearly says "Onika".
Biggest pile of ship I've heard all day,she is not saying that N word she's saying Onika,whatever that means.
Anyway the song have been out for a while,so why hasn't this turned up when the song was first released.
I searched Twitter when I saw the news - and I think all of 2 people were actually saying that would amount to a 'complaint'. Far cry from 'everyone' or 'loads' or 'many'
@Banker-Style tabloid writer saw a cheap shot when a couple of tweets referenced it methinks. And just ran with the 'story'.
But..shes black..I thought it was okay for them to say it just not anybody else.
Just Waggle sucks donkey, ditto all current pop "music".
Watch the profanity please — TBD
People REALLY need to get productive hobbies. Like, get over it lol. We really need to flip poopoodoodoocacapoopsiedoodles over something like this? First world problems. Gotta love em.
I'm not a fan of this kind of music, but I feel bad for this singer right now. Her given name is "Onika", and she can't even sing her own name without people freaking out.
How long has that song been out for?!
This is absolutely ridiculous if people bothered to just Google the lyrics for the song they would see that both versions of the song do not include the N***** in them and the fact the newspaper has even reported that she says N***** in the explicit version shows they also have done no research.
Nicki Minaj sucks like why would anyone with a Wii U even like her?
She said Nitrogen Bomb?!?!?!?!
I find it funny that people were actually offended by this.
I can't understand Minaj anyway, so I didn't even hear anything lolol
Stupidity. Take it from a guy who's friend didn't stop playing this song until last week, the word's not in there. ._.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Mondegreen
This issue is a perfect example of this trope.
Very silly. It takes 5 seconds to look up the lyrics on the Internet (and another 5 seconds to find out that Nicki Minaj's real name is Onika Maraj). Plus, this song has been all over the radio and television for almost 2 years now.
yeah, this is dumb since she didn't really say that, No apologies owed from Nintendo or anybody. But I don't get the people here who are suggesting that even if it WAS the word in question nobody should be bothered by it. That's as ignorant as the people who use it freely. If you're in a position where it means nothing to you and doesn't effect you great, own that confidence. But even today it's incredibly demeaning and inappropriate to be used in an ad or called that by someone else. It's been a persistent and notorious part of an extremely oppressive racist society (in the US and likely the UK as well) that is NOT 'post-racial'. then to suggest that the feelings of people who have lived under some horrible, demeaning times part of which meant living by that word in a hateful way that most of us will never know; that those people are stupid or wrong for being affected by it? is ridiculous. There is a dark history behind it that embodies more than just a word and I'm fine with any and all efforts to move it out of our vocabulary.
Anyway, back on this subject: this is dumb cause that's not what was said in the song so who cares? let people look it up.
Kinda odd how people just mishear this now. Isn't this song at least a year old or so?
@Peach64
Exactly.
If you write an article about something you should not blank out the word.
(Either you shouldn't have the article if it isn't suitable or you should just print the word.)
Kind of funny how offended some commenter's are about other people being offended though. (Terrible Song as well.)
GTA V features the 'N word' about 10 times in the first couple of minutes of the game and this is what they are complaining about?
She says my name is Onika you can call me nicki. Onika is her real name. She doesn't say the n word at all.
@Banker-Style Onika is Nicki's birth name.
ooooh nicky, we had our fun after shows together before you became famous, but ive moved on to other things. why didnt you just play retro games instead of using me for my love?
oh well, how many people can say they were a love slave of yours
I think the people that hear the N-bomb instead of Onika are the true racists
Too stupid...
WTH is that thing that sings there?
I would have no problem with misheard lyrics, but i can't even tell if that is a man or a woman, or even a human Oo
Also, strange name, i doubt anyone knows him/her XD
So, who cares about such a noname?
That's what you get for not erasing Nicki Minaj from the entertainment industry. Will her blight ever stop spreading?
Who are these people that see a commercial, think they here a "taboo" word, and immediately pick up their cellphones so they can tweet about how offended they are? Don't you have anything better to do? Could you at least be bothered to look up the facts before posting misinformation? Ignorant people piss me off so very much...
@Boukman Sorry for the ridiculously late reply but thanks for the answer. I'm English so I probably won't understand all the jokes but it looks like my kind of humour so I'll definitely watch it at some point!
@Tsuchinoko He he, I'm such a plonker!
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