The Nicki Minaj Met Gala Vaccination Twitter Mess, Explained

Minaj did not actually skip the Met Gala due to vaccine requirement, she says
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 14, 2021 12:00 AM CDT
Nicki Minaj's Twitter Drama Involves Met Gala, Vaccination
In this Monday, May 6, 2019, file photo, Nicki Minaj attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala in New York.   (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)

Nicki Minaj was not at the Met Gala on Monday night, and there was much Twitter drama over why exactly she declined to attend. It started when she tweeted Monday, "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." Media outlets picked up on the tweet, which went on to encourage her fans to wear masks, and reported the news as Minaj skipping the gala due to its requirement that attendees be vaccinated. Quite a bit of back-and-forth ensued, with Minaj pointing out she'd earlier that day tweeted about having "an infant with no nannies during COVID. ... Not risking his health to be seen," and that that's the actual reason she decided not to travel to the event.

She also pushed back against critics of her stance on the COVID vaccine, and retweeted followers supporting her. Included in the brouhaha was the revelation that she herself contracted COVID and had to isolate from her newborn for more than a week. Then came the tweet the internet really seized on, per Deadline:

  • Her cousin's friend: "My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied."
  • Reaction: "Minaj" was soon trending; the Hill rounds up mockery of the rapper's testicle story.
  • From social media to primetime: MSNBC host Joy Reid took Minaj to task on her show, The ReidOut. Reid accused her of encouraging the Black community to skip the vaccine, Yahoo News reports. Minaj in turn slammed Reid as an "uncle tomiana" and accused her of not bothering to learn the whole story. "They got someone with black skin for a reason," Minaj added. "They always use us against us."
  • As for that whole story: Minaj's later tweets included one acknowledging she would recommend the shot to people whose jobs require it; another saying it's "the norm" to be protected from COVID after vaccination (as opposed to getting a breakthrough case, which she had talked about in earlier tweets); and one asking fans to take a poll regarding which vaccine Minaj should get.
  • Parting shot: As of this story's posting, one of Minaj's two most recent tweets involved a vulgar message to Meghan McCain after McCain, too, commented on the controversy.
(More Nicki Minaj stories.)

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