Nicki Minaj Tweets About Regis Philbin 'Bootygate' Incident

Nicki Minaj has a lot to be thankful for this week. Her debut album, Pink Friday, is headed for a #2 bow on the Billboard 200 albums charts, with one of the highest first-week totals ever for a female rapper's first effort. But after a bizarre incident during a Monday taping of "Live With Regis and Kelly," the Young Money queen took to Twitter to air her feelings about the show's legendary 79-year-old male co-host.

After Minaj sang her hit single, "Right Thru Me," on the program, Philbin and co-host Kelly Ripa came over to greet the 25-year-old MC. That's when Philbin yanked on Minaj's hip, for no apparent reason, then looked her up and down and said, "I love the way you dress." He complimented her outfit and then decided to run his hands across the front of Nicki's skin-tight red and black dress and give her a quick squeeze on her legendarily ample backside.

After years of putting up with Philbin's bizarre antics, even Ripa was surprised, yelping "Regis! What just happened?" Minaj tried to play it off, answering Philbin's follow-up about how she hooked up with label boss Lil Wayne. "So, what advice does Lil Wayne give you?" an unphased Philbin asked.

"Wayne tells me to go hard," Minaj answered.

"Go hard?" Philbin deadpanned to the audience's groans. "I wish I could."

After the show, Nicki took to Twitter to answer a question from a follower who asked, "What went thru your mind when Regis had slapped ya? That was epic!"

Minaj wrote back, "LOL. I was in shock!"