Hip Hop

Nicki Minaj Sparks Vax Debate Leaving Barbz Divided: Everything You Need To Know

Nicki Minaj Freestyle
Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj recently opened up to reveal her thoughts on the continued debate of whether or not to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

The 38-year-old rapper took to her Twitter on Monday (September 13) to reveal that she did not attend the Met Gala because she remains unvaccinated against COVID-19.

The tweet prompted a lengthy Twitter discussion between the star and her fans where Nicki Minaj revealed that she was still hesitant but added that she probably would have to get vaccinated so she could go on tour at a later date.

Following the Tweet, she also explained that she would not be leaving her toddler son “to be seen” at the Met Gala,

“I have an infant with no nannies during COVID. who mad? Not risking his health to be seen. One yaself.”

The star-studded Met event was postponed in May last year due to the pandemic. The event requires attendees to show proof of vaccination upon arrival, and all are expected to wear masks indoors except when eating or drinking.

In addition, the rapper also took to her Twitter to communicate with her 22.6 million supporters some displeasing news about her cousin’s friend.

“My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen,” the “super-bass” rapper disclosed.

The tweet was met with intense backlash as there is no known scientific evidence that links the COVID-19 vaccines to performance problems in men or women.

A number of very high-profile people and fellow celebrities began accusing Minaj of being an anti-vaxxer and of spreading misinformation as it’s uncertain whether or not any doctor traced her cousin’s friend’s condition back to a vaccine that he/she took.

Back in August, Twitter had launched multiple functions in an effort to prevent the spread of misinformed tweets on the platform. One of the new features lets you report COVID-19 misinformation. A Birdwatch program on the app, which is used to fact-check tweets, has left over a dozen notes on Nicki’s tweet about how the tweet is potentially misleading, but Twitter has yet to take action against them, claiming, “The Tweets referenced are not in violation of the Twitter Rules.”

A public health expert (Dr. Leana Wen), even went as far as to debunk the impotence claims made by the rapper,

“It is just not true that getting the COVID-19 vaccine is associated with infertility in either males or females,” Dr. Wen revealed, “In fact, we know that there are actually consequences, if somebody gets COVID-19, in terms of the impact on the male reproductive system, there have been studies that have linked scrotal discomfort and low sperm count to having COVID-19.”

She added, “In addition, there has been an association between scrotal swelling and congestion to having COVID-19. So, to emphasize, these are not associated with the vaccine but with the disease.”

To worsen the backlash against the rapper, a news reporter on MSNBC fired shots at Nicki, saying she wasn’t utilizing her platform wisely.

“People like Nicki Minaj, I have to say this, you have a platform sister that is 22 million followers…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 that you got that, the people listen to you-they listen to you more than they listen to me, for you to use your platform to put people in the position of dying from a disease they don’t have to die from..omg as someone who’s your fan-I am so sad,” she stated.

Nicki Minaj fired back, retweeting the recording, captioning it, “The two white men sittin there nodding their heads cuz this uncle tomiana doing the work chile. How sad.”

The woman reporting was a black person, and Nicki was assumingly giving light to how she was the only one digging her grave as the white men only nodded in agreement.

On the other hand, another shocking post by the artiste divulged that she contracted COVID- 19 during a video shoot while she was preparing for this year’s MTV Video Music Awards.

The comment was Nicki’s response to one of her fans who supported her decision not to attend the 2021 Met Gala.

To another fan who revealed that she got the vaccine for work, Nicki replied, “I know babe. A lot of countries won’t let ppl work w/o the vaccine. I’d def recommend they get the vaccine. They have to feed their families. I’m sure I’ll b vaccinated as well cuz I have to go on tour, etc.”

To continue to prove her point, Minaj recently started a poll on her Twitter called, “Take the poll. #QueenRadio Vaccines.”