Nicki Minaj found out what happens when you steal a little bit of Britney Spears' vibe. Or what happens when you submit animals to elevated volumes and dance routines: According to The Daily Mail, one of the rapper's backup dancers was bitten by a literal anaconda while performing a practice session for the performer's Sunday gig at the MTV VMA's. Anacondas are not venomous but the dancer was still hospitalized to prevent possible infections.
The six-foot snake was taken away in a container.
No doubt this will set human/snake relations back yet another 100 years and that's a shame. Minaj was using the literal prop for what we can only assume will be a performance of her newest single "Anaconda." It's also a reference to one of the more notorious moments in VMA history, when Spears performed "Slave 4 U" with an albino Burmese python draped around her shoulders. The python, named Banana (we're not kidding), has gone down in history.
The problem is that anacondas of any size are a totally different ball game from burmese pythons. Despite the constant horror stories being shown in Florida on tabloid television, pythons would much rather sit in one place all day than seek out confrontation. Anacondas—technically a species of boa, not python—are a tad more feisty.
It's a moot point however. The use of snakes, or any animal for that matter, as a prop during a live music performance is shameful. If Minaj were to submit a dog or cat to the levels of volume that will be onstage at the VMA's, viewers would cry foul. But for some reason reptiles, birds and other animals aren't afforded the same courtesy.
We hope that Minaj has a backup plan for the ever-flashy VMA's, but the use of a live animal as a prop is ludicrous.
The author is a proud cat/snake owner. His bias is probably obvious.
