Is it bad that more people are interested in the beef between Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey than they are about the contestants on the next season of “American Idol?”

Now that the premiere is upon us, the judges have been making the rounds and doing press for the show. Nicki made an appearance, sans Mimi, on the “Ellen” Show and talked about adjusting to the rigors of a 9 to 5 day job. But Ellen wanted to know about the tiff between her and Mariah.

Nicki must have consulted with her PR reps, because she’s taking the whole thing a lot more lightly than she did initially.

Now, she chalks her clashes with Mariah up to a battle of the divas.

“It was just two big ol’ divas, I guess,” said Nicki, when Ellen asked her to explain how the beef started. “I heard them saying Mariah doesn’t want you on the panel, but I was saying, ‘No, I’m friends with Mariah.’ And I was like arguing with people down, like, ‘Don’t believe everything you read. You’re crazy!’”

Eventually, the condescending remarks, the side-eyes and the heavy sighs from Mariah became difficult to ignore for Nicki.

“I went there and I started feeling a little bit of the shade. I just kind of overcompensated by being crazier and I don’t think that really worked!” Nicki said. “It’s like a defense mechanism. It’s really that your feelings are hurt and you can’t believe it, so then you just kind of compensate by being crazy.”

On whether the beef between the two of them is squashed, Nicki said for her part it is: “I don’t know if she’s gotten over it but I have. If she’s still holding a grudge, I don’t know. I don’t care.”

Watch Nicki Minaj’s appearance on Ellen below: