Nick Cannon believes that the producers of American Idol are using the alleged feud between his wife, Mariah Carey, and rapper Nicki Minaj for publicity.

theGrio: ‘American Idol’ feud: Mariah Carey hires security, Nicki Minaj goes on Twitter rant

In an interview on The View, Cannon said, “I believe that it was real to the extent that it actually happened,” and adding that, “I don’t know anybody who can stand with a camera phone right in front of the monitor and record it and nobody say anything, and then it just magically gets on TMZ.”

In another interview with Access Hollywood, Cannon said he was disappointed in FOX because “they are taking away from the quality of what Idol is,” while still questioning how else the footage of the bust up between Mariah and Nicki could have gotten to TMZ.

The Huffington Post also reported on an interview Cannon did with HuffPost Live where he said, “My wife is the classiest and strongest woman I’ve ever known … She’s been through a lot worse in her career than some rapper getting loud with her … I was more disappointed with the way the producers and the network handled the situation… It feels really contrived.”

Cannon also addressed a previous story about Mariah’s disappointment when she first got the news that Nicki Minaj was selected to be a co-judge on American Idol, saying :

“Mariah and Nicki were close … Mariah put her in her video and they did songs together. She sent us a wonderful baby gift when our kids were born… When Mariah was hired to do “American Idol,” she was being courted by every competition show out there, but she chose the one that she felt was the classier show … and she thought it would be the same way she’s seen it in the past, two guys and one girl. So when you hear that there’s going to be someone else, of course that comes to you as a surprise … But I think after she got over the initial idea, and it was someone that she knew, she was fine with it.”

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