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No, rapper Nicki Minaj has not publicly endorsed Donald Trump for president
If Your Time is short
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There’s no evidence that rapper Nicki Minaj has publicly endorsed Donald Trump over Kamala Harris for president.
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Some posts making the claim shared a 5-year-old video in which she didn’t endorse Trump.
Rapper Nicki Minaj once dedicated her hit song "Anaconda" to both Donald Trump and Joe Biden before either man was president "in the spirit of unity" in April 2016 at the Time 100 Gala in New York City.
E! News reported Minaj worked both Trump’s and Biden’s names into the lyrics, and afterward, asked the crowd, "Who do you think likes the biggest butts, Donald Trump or Joe Biden?"
But some social media users say the rap star is taking sides in this year’s presidential election and has endorsed Trump, the Republican nominee, over Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee.
An Oct. 28 Threads post said, "BREAKING – Nicki Minaj just endorsed Donald Trump for President. This is a HUGE blow to Kamala! Q the Democrats calling Minaj a racist in 3, 2, 1."
We found no public evidence that Minaj has publicly endorsed Trump in the Nov. 5 election.
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We found other social media posts claiming that Minaj endorsed Trump, some of them sharing a 5-year-old video of Minaj in which she doesn’t endorse Trump.
(Screenshots from X, Threads)
That video is from Halloween 2019. Minaj is dressed as "Bride of Chucky," and her husband, Kenneth Petty, is dressed as Chucky, the killer doll from the "Child’s Play" horror movies and TV shows.
In the video, the couple joke about her wedding ring and in character, Minaj said that because Chuck is an American, "I can now fill out paperwork to vote in the United States of America of Donald Trump." Trump was president in 2019 and she did not endorse him in the video.
We searched Google News and the Nexis news database and found no credible articles about Minaj endorsing Trump. We also searched Minaj’s official website and social media accounts and found no posts in which she endorsed Trump.
PolitiFact contacted Minaj through her record label, but didn’t immediately get a response
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Minaj has spoken publicly about politics before. In December 2015, she told Billboard magazine that his presidential campaign was both "childish" and "hilarious," and said it would make a good reality TV show. She didn’t take a side in that interview in the race between Trump and Hillary Clinton, and also spoke kindly of Clinton and then-President Barack Obama.
In a 2018 Instagram post that didn’t name Trump, Minaj was critical of U.S. immigration policy that separated children from their parents. She wrote, "I came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old. I can’t imagine the horror of being in a strange place & having my parents stripped away from me at the age of 5. This is so scary to me. Please stop this."
Minaj was born in Trinidad and Tobago and said in a September TikTok live stream that she is not a U.S. citizen.
In a February 2020 interview at the Pollstar Live conference, Minaj said she wasn’t going to "jump on the Donald Trump (hate) bandwagon," but again criticized his policies that separated immigrant families, saying "it doesn’t sit right in my spirit." She added, though, that "on ‘Celebrity Apprentice,’ I think he was funny as hell."
In 2021, Minaj questioned the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and had a public disagreement with Biden’s White House about whether she was invited there to discuss them. The White House said she was offered a phone call with a doctor.
But we found no evidence she has chosen a side in the current election between Trump and Harris. The claim is False.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact-check.
Our Sources
Threads post, Oct. 28, 2024
Facebook post, Oct. 28, 2024 (archived)
X post, Oct. 28, 2024 (archived)
X post, Oct. 28, 2024 (archived)
X post, Oct. 28, 2024 (archived)
X post, Oct. 28, 2024 (archived)
Nicki Minaj, X page, accessed Oct. 29, 2024
Nicki Minaj, Instagram page, accessed Oct. 29, 2024
Nicki Minaj, Facebook page, accessed Oct. 29, 2024
Nicki Minaj, TikTok page, accessed Oct. 29, 2024
Nick Minaj, Instagram post, June 20, 2018
Billboard, Nicki Minaj Gets Political: Her Take on Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and Why the War on Drugs ‘Has Become Slavery’, Dec. 10, 2015
Los Angeles Times, White House clarifies why Nicki Minaj was invited to discuss vaccine safety, Sept. 16, 2021
PolitiFact, Research counters Nicki Minaj’s tweet about COVID-19 vaccines and impotency, Sept. 14, 2021
People, See Nicki Minaj Flash Her Massive Wedding Ring with Husband Kenneth Petty Dressed Up for Halloween, Oct. 30, 2019
E News, Nicki Minaj Dedicates "Anaconda" to Donald Trump and Joe Biden at Time 100 Gala, April 27, 2016
Hollywood Reporter, Nicki Minaj Dedicates "Anaconda" Performance to Donald Trump, Joe Biden at Time 100 Gala, April 26, 2016
Vibe, Nicki Minaj Reveals Surprising Information About Her Current Immigration Status, Sept. 19, 2024
IHeart, Nicki Minaj Makes Shocking Admission About Her Immigration Status, Sept. 19, 2024
Variety, Nicki Minaj Sheds Tears for Kobe Bryant, Cheers for Larry David in Unfiltered Q&A, Feb. 5, 2020
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No, rapper Nicki Minaj has not publicly endorsed Donald Trump for president
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