Usher agreed to look back on some of his most ‘unhinged’ performances over the years, including his decision to slap Nicki Minaj‘s butt at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards.
While reflecting on sharing the stage with the Anaconda hitmaker, 41, the eight-time Grammy winner, 45, revealed he regrets spanking and bumping her behind.
‘That was just a moment that was fun, and by the way, it was me playing my bass,’ he explained on Monday episode of The Breakfast Club. ‘I would’ve probably bumped my shoulder or my hand, but I had my bass in my hand, so I just kind of bopped off her body a little bit.’
He continued, ‘I think I was reaching a bit when I smacked her [butt], though. I shouldn’t have smacked her butt. I shouldn’t have did that.’
The moment recently resurfaced on social media after Boosie Badazz reacted to the clip during an Instagram Live.
‘Did you see when he smacked Nicki Minaj on the a**?’ the rapper, 41, asked viewers. ‘I gotta show you that. Nicki Minaj looked at him like, ‘N**ga, is you crazy?”
He proceeded to point out how the mother-of-one looked ‘caught off guard’ as if they hadn’t planned that ‘in rehearsals.’
‘If it ain’t in rehearsals, you don’t do it, period. I don’t give a d**n. She’s not an actor, it’s not a movie. She plays the piano!’ he said.
During his interview on The Breakfast Club, Usher choose to defend his and Alicia Keys’ steamy Super Bowl performance.
‘In no way is there anything that was done there that should have been viewed as bad or in any way perverted or anything like that,’ he insisted. ‘No, it was literally about having fun because of a song that me and Alicia made many years ago, and we celebrated it because of the legacy of it. No disrespect to anybody or anything like that.’
His remarks come after Keys’ husband, Swizz Beatz, responded to social media users comments assuming he must have been jealous watching Keys and Usher getting touchy-feely onstage.
The day after the show, he joined many social media users raving about the show and shared a post on his Instagram.
In his caption, he said there was no ‘negative vibes’ and heaped on the praise after watching Usher, 45, and Keys, 43, sing their 2004 smash hit My Boo, which he deemed ‘a classic’.
The Grammy-winning record producer — whose full name is Kasseem Daoud Dean — said their performance was ‘nothing but amazing.’
Many social media users took to X following the show, tweeting that it was ‘inappropriate’ for Usher to hug Keys when they were both in relationships.
‘I’d be hot [as f***] if I was Swizz Beatz… Usher was all up on Alicia Keys,’ one X user wrote.
‘Now why was Usher all up on Alicia Keys like that,’ another wrote. ‘…I know Swizz’s heart dropped in his stomach for that performance’.
However, Keys’ husband appeared unbothered and was very supportive of his wife.
‘Y’all talking about the wrong d*** thing,’ he began. ‘Y’all don’t see that amazing dress covering the entire stadium.’
He added: ‘Tonight’s performance was nothing but amazing with two amazing giants! Congrats @usher and my love @aliciakeys. That song is a classic.
‘We don’t do negative vibes on this side,’ he continued. ‘We make history.’
He wrapped up his post by telling his fans to go check out their art exhibit — Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys — at the Brooklyn Museum in New York City.
Keys and Swizz Beatz married in 2010 and share two children — Egypt Daoud and Genesis Ali. Beatz has three kids from previous relationships.
Usher’s wife Jennifer Goicoechea has not responded to the comments.
According to an exclusive report by DailyMail.com, the couple obtained a marriage license earlier this week.
The newlyweds, who DailyMail.com learned obtained a marriage license before his halftime performance, have been together for five years.
The couple are parents to two toddlers — daughter Sovereign Bo and son Sire Castrello.
Usher also shares Usher ‘Cinco’ V and Naviyd Ely with ex-wife Tameka Foster.
