MAGA MINAJ?!: Celebrity Culture vs Political Reality

There comes a point when a community has to stop tiptoeing and tell the truth plainly. And right now, many Black women are looking at Nicki Minaj and asking a real question. What do we do with an artist who keeps aligning herself with people and politics that harm us?

On January 28, 2026, Nicki Minaj appeared at the Trump Accounts Summit at the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington, D.C. She walked onstage with Donald Trump, held his hand, called herself “probably the president’s No. 1 fan,” and pledged up to three hundred thousand dollars toward his initiative. This was not a misunderstanding or a casual photo. It was a public endorsement. It was a political choice and it followed her appearance at a Turning Point USA event in December 2025, where she signaled the same alignment.

Black women do not have the luxury of treating politics like entertainment. We live the consequences. We feel the policies in our paychecks, our healthcare, our schools, and our safety. So when a celebrity with global influence chooses to stand beside a political figure whose policies have harmed Black communities, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, and women’s bodily autonomy, we have every right to respond with clarity.

The truth is this moment did not come out of nowhere.

Long before she stood next to Trump, Nicki Minaj had already shown a pattern of harmful behavior that many people ignored or excused. She spread widely debunked misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccine, including a false story about a man becoming impotent after vaccination. Public health officials across the United States, Trinidad, and the United Kingdom had to correct her claims.

She has been accused of pressuring and intimidating Jennifer Hough, the woman who accused her husband of sexual assault. Court filings and interviews from 2021 and 2022 documented allegations of attempted bribery and harassment. These are not small things. They are serious and painful.

Her earlier music and public comments include homophobic and transphobic slurs that were never meaningfully addressed. Ignoring a community that has helped build her career from the ground up. If not for the LGBTQ+ and Black communities, many say she would not be where she is today. She has repeatedly used her platform to attack Black women journalists, influencers, and artists who critique her, often unleashing waves of harassment from her fanbase. She has defended or aligned herself with multiple men accused of harming women, including her brother, who was convicted of child sex crimes.

These patterns matter and they shape culture. They shape how people talk about us. They shape what becomes acceptable to say about us. So when people say she should have been canceled a long time ago, they are not being dramatic. They are acknowledging a history that has been dismissed because of fame, nostalgia, and fear of backlash.

Visibility comes with responsibility.

Nicki Minaj is not powerless. She is not being silenced. She is one of the most visible artists in the world and that visibility carries weight. When she stands beside someone whose policies harm us, she is not standing alone. She is standing with her influence, her fanbase, and her cultural reach.

Black women have always been expected to be politically literate, morally grounded, and community-minded. Meanwhile, celebrities get to play both sides, flirt with harmful ideologies, and then hide behind the idea that it is “not that serious.” But it is serious. Because our lives are serious.

Why this moment hurts so many Black women.

Nicki’s rise felt personal for a lot of us. A Caribbean Black girl from Queens who fought her way into an industry that was not built for her. She was bold, brilliant, and unapologetic. She was ours. So watching her choose proximity to power over proximity to truth feels like a betrayal. Not because we expect perfection, but because we expect awareness. We expect care. We expect a basic understanding of the harm certain political figures have caused our communities.

Black women are tired of being the only ones who take politics seriously. Tired of being the moral compass while celebrities chase clout. Tired of watching our culture be used as a bargaining chip for political gain.

So should we cancel her?

Canceling is too simple for something this layered. What we can do is withdraw blind loyalty. We can stop pretending harmful behavior is harmless. We can name the harm clearly. We can protect our political clarity. And we can redirect our energy toward artists, organizers, and thinkers who actually uplift our communities.

Nicki Minaj is free to make her political choices and Black women are free to respond with boundaries, discernment, and truth.

The bigger picture.

This moment is bigger than one celebrity. It is about the tension between celebrity culture and political reality. It is about how easily fame can be weaponized. It is about how often Black women are expected to swallow disappointment quietly.

But we are not doing that anymore.

We can love someone’s art and still critique their politics. We can honor their impact and still reject their choices. We can hold complexity without losing clarity.

Nicki Minaj may be a cultural icon, but she is not above accountability. And if she chooses to stand beside someone whose policies harm us, then she should expect Black women to stand firm in our truth.

Our loyalty is not unconditional. Our liberation is not negotiable. And our political clarity will not be shaken by celebrity spectacle.