Actress/Tv host Whoopi Goldberg is defending Nicki Minaj over criticisms she used Nazi imagery in her new video for her song Only, insisting the rapper may have have been unaware of the controversial symbolism.

The Anaconda hitmaker has come under fire from officials at the Anti-Defamation League (Adl) and singer Barry Manilow after releasing the animated video, which depicts Minaj as a powerful dictator leading an army of men wearing red armbands, on Friday (07Nov14).

Minaj has since apologised on Twitter.com, writing, "Both the producer, & person in charge of over seeing the lyric video (one of my best friends & videographer: A. Loucas), happen to be Jewish... I didn't come up w/ (with) the concept, but I'm very sorry & take full responsibility if it has offended anyone. I'd never condone Nazism in my art."

In a segment on Goldberg's U.S. talk show The View on Tuesday (11Nov14), the Ghost star come out in defence of Minaj, insisting she may not have learned enough about the Holocaust in school to recognise how controversial the video would be.

She said, "We don't teach a lot of history anymore. We don't teach the history of the world, we don't teach the history of World War Ii, we don't explain what went on..."

However, guest co-host and Glee star Naya Rivera disagreed with Goldberg, countering, "Yeah, but, everybody knows. Nazi equals bad, we don't talk about it..."

Minaj's video director Jeff Osborne has since broken his silence about the scandal, insisting the images are examples of Nazi symbolism, but insisted the message of his work has been "misinterpreted".

In a statement, he says, "I think its (sic) actually important to remind younger generations of atrocities that occurred in the past as a way to prevent them from happening in the future. And the most effective way of connecting with people today is through social media and pop culture. So if my work is misinterpreted because it's not a sappy tearjerker, sorry I'm not sorry."