Ryan Seacrest Discusses Nicki Minaj & Mariah Carey’s “Heated” Fight: New Details

Nicki Minaj‘s screaming match with Mariah Carey on the set of American Idol in Charlotte, N.C. leaked earlier today in a low-quality video, which conveniently has everyone talking about American Idol again. (Good press!) Notably, Idol‘s host Ryan Seacrest spoke out about the incident on his radio show, where he explained that things might have gone too far.

“There was a very heated, intense argument towards the end of the day after a contestant did a little bit of a performance in the room,” Seacrest explained. “Keith [Urban] was sitting there, Randy [Jackson] was sitting there. Of course, Nicki and Mariah were both there. I was outside. I was outside with the contestant’s family at the time. Both of these judges, as I have said before, come with different perspective[s]… It did go too far, to the point where the producers said with just a few more contestants left, ‘Let’s call it a day.’ And, [they] called a wrap.’” We can’t blame them.

While Seacrest’s explanation is diplomatic, it doesn’t address the content of their conversation: namely, Minaj spewing a string of ugly profanity at Carey, and Carey calling Minaj “a little crazy bitch” who was keeping her from spending time with Dem Babies. There were even allegations that Minaj threatened Carey’s life, saying “If I had a gun I would shoot her” — although those reports were swiftly denied by Idol producer Nigel Lythgoe in a statement earlier today about the incident.

Still, if the endgame was to elevate interest in the upcoming season of Idol, we’re taking the bait. We’ll watch heavyweight divas yell at each other any day.