Nicki Minaj declared Monday night she would not be attending the Met Gala, where COVID-19 vaccines were required, and she’s unvaccinated. When high-profile media figures weighed in or tried to convince her of their efficacy — and why she shouldn’t use her considerable platform to disparage them — she fired back, hitting pundits on the left and the right.
“They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won’t for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one,” the rap superstar and new mother tweeted as the annual fundraiser kicked off Monday following last year’s cancellation and this year’s postponement.
She went on to tweet she recommends getting vaccinated and will likely get vaccinated herself, but said she’d already had COVID and was even informed by fellow Young Money-affiliated superstar Drake that he’d gotten a breakthrough case after his vaccination. She polled her followers on which vaccine they recommend. She also tweeted a story she said she’d heard about a man who became impotent after taking the vaccine, which led to immediate outcry from those who said that there’s no proof that happens to vaccinated men.
Twitter began featuring a landing page full of information about the vaccine. It was still being promoted Tuesday morning. The top read, “Contrary to myths circulating on social media and to rapper Nicki Minaj’s tweets during the Met Gala, medical experts and public health organizations say there is no evidence that COVID-19 vaccines affect male fertility. According to the CDC, professional societies for male reproduction recommend men who want to have babies in the future get a COVID-19 vaccine as “there is no evidence that vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause male fertility problems.””
On the Monday episode of “The ReidOut,” MSNBC’s Joy Reid said she was hurt by Minaj’s comments, “as a fan.”
“You have a platform, Sister, that is 22 million followers. I have 2 million followers. You have 22 million followers on Twitter. For you to use your platform to encourage our community to not protect themselves and save their lives… my god, Sister, you can do better than that. You got that platform. It’s a blessing. It’s a blessing that you got that. People listen to you. They listen to you more than they listen to me,” Reid fumed.
Minaj fired back on Twitter, “This is what happens when you’re so thirsty to down another black woman (by the request of the white man), that you didn’t bother to read all my tweets. ‘My God SISTER do better’ imagine getting ur dumb ass on tv a min after a tweet to spread a false narrative about a black woman.”
After blasting outlets like Variety and the Daily Beast for covering her tweets in a way she said was inaccurate and vowing to “have them contacted,” Minaj doubled back for Reid again, bringing up the scandal in which homophobic blog posts were found on Reid’s old website and she claimed she’d been hacked. She also called the MSNBC host a racial slur.
At some point during the fray, conservative commentator Meghan McCain said that Minaj’s tweet about impotency and “swollen” testicles was “entirely enough internet for” the day.
“Eat s— you,” replied the rapper to the former “View” host.
On Tuesday, McCain responded, “You have an enormous platform and have just spread unimaginable vaccine hesitancy to your fans. Not only is it deeply irresponsible, it is very sad.” She added the hashtag #TeamCardi, showing her allegiance to another female rapper, Cardi B.