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"Steven Tyler has apologized to Nicki Minaj for being critical of her role as an American Idol judge, but has rejected her claim that he is racist. Former Idol judge Tyler started the controversy earlier in the week when he said that Minaj isn&amp;#039;t qualified to judge talent, adding in jest that she &amp;quot;would have sent [Bob Dylan] to the cornfield&amp;quot;.   Minaj fired back with a series of tweets in which she chided Tyler for criticizing her before her first American Idol episode had even aired. She wrote: &amp;quot;I understand you really wanted to keep your job, but take that up with the producers. I haven&amp;#039;t done anything to you. That&amp;#039;s a racist comment. You assume that I wouldn&amp;#039;t have liked Bob Dylan??? Why? Black? Rapper? What? Go f**k yourself and worry about yourself, babe. &amp;quot;When Steven [first] went on Idol he was ridiculed by his peers and fans alike. Called a sell out. So what does he do? Ridicule the next judge.&amp;quot;  Tyler was asked about the furore while appearing on Canada&amp;#039;s eTalk on Tuesday (November 27) and admitted that he did not choose his words wisely. &amp;quot;I apologize if it was taken wrong, Nicki... But I am the farthest from [being a racist],&amp;quot; the Aerosmith star stressed. &amp;quot;I am the last thing on this planet as far as being a racist.&amp;quot;   The singer concluded: &amp;quot;I don&amp;#039;t know where she got that out of me saying I&amp;#039;m not sure how she would&amp;#039;ve judged Bob Dylan... Maybe I spoke out of turn. But a racist I&amp;#039;m not, Nicki.&amp;quot; Tyler served as a judge on American Idol for two seasons in 2011 and 2012, but exited the show this past summer. American Idol&amp;#039;s new season - featuring judges Minaj, Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey and Keith Urban - premieres in January 2013 on Fox in the US. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/american-idol/news/a441591/steven-tyler-responds-to-american-idol-nicki-minaj-im-not-racist/>