A lot of things have happened this year that have truly shocked us – Katy Perry's support of Jeff Bezos with her 11-minute space flight that wasted an estimated 75 to 250 tonnes of CO2 per passenger (equivalent to a person's lifetime emissions), Lily Allen's very public calling out of ex-husband David Harbour's rampant cheating and, of course, Sydney Sweeney's supposed alt-right dogwhistle with her American Eagle ‘good genes’ campaign.
But perhaps the one cultural moment that none of us saw coming was Nicki Minaj's very public display of affection for the Trump administration and the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement.
Her shocking flip in political leaning has shocked her LGBTQIA+ and minority fanbase, thanks to the Trump administration's attack on gay and trans rights, as well as its policies regarding immigration.
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As reported by Them, when one of Minaj’s fans quoted one of her posts and criticised her for praising Trump, the rapper lashed out at them, saying: "Imagine hearing that Christians are being MURDERED & making it about you being gay. When my home was swatted multiple times with my innocent toddler inside (with maybe 20 officers with guns drawn pointed at home due to political corruption), you being gay couldn’t save me.”
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One TikTok video describing the rapper's recent views has received thousands of comments from former fans, with messages like “We will never forgive her for this,” and “I can't believe she betrayed us”. From a woman who once encouraged her gay fans to be “fighters”, to “be brave” and empathised that she “could never imagine what they're going through”, her recent support of alt-right figureheads like Erika Kirk and JD Vance has come as a massive shock to many.
On 22nd December 2025, Nicki Minaj appeared on stage alongside Erika Kirk — the CEO of Turning Point USA and widow of Charlie Kirk – where she praised President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance as being “amazing role models”, before a foot-in-mouth situation where she referred to JD Vance as being like an “assassin”.
Immediately realising her poor choice of words – Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at a public event at Utah Valley University on September 10th 2025, by a lone gunman – Nicki Minaj appeared embarrassed while the former Miss Arizona Erika Kirk laughed it off, saying: “Trust me, there's nothing new under the sun that I have not heard, so you're fine. I love you. You have to laugh about it.”
At the same event, Nicki Minaj described Trump as “handsome” and “dashing”, saying “[The Trump administration] is full of people with heart and soul. They make me proud. Our Vice President — I love both of them. They are both powerful men. Smart, strong, all of that.”
She also appeared to take shots at the trans community, encouraging boys to ‘be boys’: “There's nothing wrong with being a boy,” she said in the conversation with Erika. "How about that? How powerful is that? How profound is that? Boys will be boys, and there's nothing wrong with that.”
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On 19 December 2025, Minaj also surprised fans by backing US President Donald Trump’s claims of Christian persecution in Nigeria at an event organised by the US embassy to the UN in New York. "In Nigeria, Christians are being targeted," Minaj said in her speech. "Churches have been burned, families have been torn apart... simply because of how they pray." In November, Trump told how he would send troops into Nigeria "guns a-blazing" if its government "continues to allow the killing of Christians".
Those aligned with Trump have been vocal about what they call a ‘Christian genocide' in Nigeria amidst a wave of school abductions and horrifying killings of students. However, many of the victims involved are not only Christian, but of multiple faiths, according to reports, with exact data difficult to verify.
In response, the Nigerian government has pushed back on the claims made by Donald Trump, Nicki Minaj and their supporters, by describing the claims as "a gross misrepresentation of reality".
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Nicki Minaj, 35 — whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty — is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, and moved to Queens, New York when she was five. She's historically been outspoken about her cultural background, and has spoken about her experience coming to the US as an immigrant. "I came to this country as an illegal immigrant," she shared in a now-deleted Instagram post in 2018, speaking out about the terrifying rise of detention centres in America under the Trump administration.
"I can’t imagine the horror of being in a strange place and having my parents stripped away from me at the age of five," she said at the time. “This is so scary to me. Please stop this. Can you try to imagine the terror and panic these kids feel right now? Not knowing if their parents are dead or alive, if they’ll ever see them again.”
She's renowned for referencing her heritage in her rap songs — for instance in Little Mix's Woman Like Me: “Tell 'em there's a bad Trini bitch inna your area” and “My daddy is Indian (Swish), all this curry”.
However, fast forward only seven years (and into another Trump presidency) and Nicki Minaj has seemingly swung as politically far right as it's possible to go, aligning with the MAGA movement and Turning Point USA — one of the biggest conservative youth movements in the US that's largely credited with helping to secure Donald Trump his second term as president. The ultra-conservative group is loudly ‘anti-woke’ and describes its young supporters as "America's most spirited anti-woke warriors" and a “new generation of pro-America patriots” — and importantly, don't support immigrants like Nicki and her family.
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Donald Trump has used his second term as president to aggressively clamp down on immigration. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and border patrol are set to receive a further $170 billion — up from their current $19 billion in funding — which is being used to increase raids and open new detention centres.
Not only has the ‘queen of rap’ expressed support for Erika Kirk and Donald Trump, but in recent weeks she's also used her platform to support the US government's anti-trans agenda.
After the Californian governor Gavin Newsom appeared on The Ezra Klein Show (a podcast hosted by The New York Times) and commented that there's been "no governor that’s done more pro-trans legislation than I have", Minaj took to X to write: “Imagine being the guy running on wanting to see trans kids. Haha. Not even a trans ADULT would run on that. Normal adults wake up & think they want to see HEALTHY, SAFE, HAPPY kids. Not Gav. The Gav Nots. GavOUT. Send in the next guy, I’m bored.”
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Just last month, on November 10th, 2025, the official White House TikTok account shared a meme video soundtracked by Minaj's famous hit Va Va Voom, further hinting at a blossoming relationship and mutual appreciation between the rapper and Trump's government. In it, it promotes messages such as ‘no men in women’s sports', closed borders and deportation of ‘criminal illegals’ amongst other right-wing policies. Nicki publicly reposted the video to her profile that has over two million followers.
To any disappointed fans, it doesn't appear like she'll be backing down on any of her controversial comments anytime soon. When asked at the recent Turning Point USA event about what kind of legacy she wants to leave, she said: "That it's OK to change your mind.” With that in mind, hopefully she has a change of heart about turning on her millions of fans from LGBTQIA+ and minority communities.
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