Nicki Minaj

Nicki Minaj is going to get someone killed — even if only indirectly. In much the same way a straight line can be drawn between Donald Trump’s COVID-19 skepticism and racist invective against Asian people and the real-world harm they caused, Nicki Minaj’s anti-vaccine rhetoric is very likely having a devastating, if not immediately visible impact. As was pointed out by numerous sources in Trinidad & Tobago including the Minister Of Health and one sassy news anchor, Nicki’s platform is far too large and her influence is far too powerful for her to keep propagating the sort of dangerous messages that have already resulted in so many deaths, both in the US and worldwide.

While television hosts like Tucker Carlson and Stephen Colbert made light of Nicki Minaj’s tweets — mainly because the comedic potential in her chain letter-esque, Snopes-worthy narrative was too great to ignore — their fellow host Jake Tapper probably had the better handle on how truly dangerous it is that she keeps going. And yes, she’s still going. Now, she’s trying to defend herself, likely out of a sense of embarrassment at the pile-on of ridicule of her silly, poorly-sourced anecdote, but as she does, she only further entrenches herself — and those who agree with her or are otherwise timid about receiving their shots — in their delusion of anti-scientific fear.

If it seems like I’m being harsh, that’s probably because I lost patience for COVID deniers and anti-vaxxers right around the time my uncle Cecil died of COVID complications last year, before a vaccine could be made available that could have saved his life. It’s because my dad, whose immune system has been compromised by chemotherapy and reduced lung capacity since I was in eighth grade, wasn’t able to safely leave his home in over a year. It’s because my stories are more than just second or thirdhand anecdotes from the Facebook family gossip chain. It’s because my younger brother had to have his graduation via Zoom, and so many of those nearest and dearest to me are suffering after losing loved ones to a virus our country had the capacity to stop in its tracks but didn’t.

So yeah, I understand the reticence of Nicki Minaj and others who say they don’t understand how the vaccine works. I also call “bullshit” on that bad faith line of reasoning. You don’t know how your smartphone works either, or half of your household appliances. Your planes, your trains, and your automobiles are beyond your ability or knowledge to explain too. You don’t know what’s in McDonald’s’ Secret Sauce, and you don’t even know what’s in your record contract. But you still use your phone, microwave your leftover Big Macs, and sign your contract, because there is some benefit in it for you, whether it’s entertainment, or nourishment, or that big, fat advance the label waved in front of you in exchange for 90% of your publishing rights.

There’s a benefit to getting vaccinated, too: Protecting yourself, those you love, the people who help you pay your bills, and strangers you’ll never meet but won’t infect via the long, sinuous game of telephone that defines how epidemics and pandemics like this one spread. You say you’re doing research, but the research is already done. You can find it in any number of trustworthy, source-citing articles from the Associated Press, from the Center For Disease Control — outlets where experts, whose jobs involve checking and double-checking facts and observations backed by decades of scientific discoveries share their knowledge for the sole purpose of keeping people from dying from this preventable disease.

Facebook is not a source. Anonymous anecdotes on Reddit are not “research.” It feels more like what Nicki and those other skeptics are looking for are horror stories that validate their fears, because they are more afraid of the medicine than the disease. And I get it; no one likes getting shots. But you did it when you were a kid in order to enroll in most schools. You do it when you’re planning that overseas trip. You can do it now, to save lives, to help someone other than yourself. You can even buy yourself a lollipop after with the millions of dollars you’ve made from being an entertainer — and can get back to making when there’s no longer a life-threatening pandemic shutting down the venues where you ply your trade.

And if you’re not going to get the shot, despite the millions of people who have gotten it without side effects (many more than the negligible number who have experienced adverse reactions), despite the growing number of cases, despite the virus’ potential to mutate and become even more deadly and drug-resistant the longer it circulates, then at the very least, stop tweeting about it. Because, Nicki, you could get someone killed.

After three days of backlash to her tweets about refusing COVID-19 vaccines until she’s “done more research,” Nicki Minaj claimed to have been locked out of her Twitter account. Twitter’s administrators say they’ve taken no such action against her, but her say-so was enough to prompt her fans to get #FreeNicki trending. Unfortunately, as her COVID tweets hewed pretty closely to the Fox News playbook of “just asking questions,” it didn’t take long for conservative pundits like Jack Posobiec and right-wing Twitter trolls to hijack the trend for their political theater wargames.

Call me crazy, but if the people tweeting Pepe memes are siding with you — the same people who were holding tiki torches in Charleston and putting their feet up on desks at the Capitol building — it might be time to examine your commentary and start issuing some retractions. Nicki has already backpedaled from one of her more outrageous claims: The tweet that could be said to have more or less caused all this chaos to begin with. Trying to provide an example of the sort of thing she fears from vaccines, she relayed the tale of her cousin’s friend in Trinidad, who supposedly canceled his wedding after a vaccine side effect gave him swollen testes and impotence.

You don’t need to work at Snopes.com to see through that one, and Nicki was roundly roasted by users on Twitter, Stephen Colbert, and even Trinidad’s Health Minister for spreading vaccine misinformation. However, right-wingers like Tucker Carlon and Candace Owens were only too happy to jump on the Nicki Minaj bandwagon (remember when they did the same to Kanye West?), placing the rapper firmly on the side of folks who only see her as a prop and not as a person. Lest we forget, these are the same people who either ignored or outright derided Nicki up until now and would likely have continued to do so were it not convenient for them to pretend to defend her.

However, even with all the hot air they’ve blown, Nicki’s Barbz and reactionary defenders do actually kind of have a point: Donald Trump was allowed to spew anti-vaccine conspiracy nonsense for almost a year before Twitter disabled his account. However, like most of their arguments, it also falls apart on the slightest scrutiny — among the differences between them, Nicki is not a public official whose statements need to be preserved for historical purposes and Twitter says it did not remove her access to her account. One thing they do have in common, though: Neither’s First Amendment rights were violated because its protections only extend to the Federal government and do not cover sedition or being a public safety menace.

Wednesday marks the third consecutive day that Nicki Minaj has made tweets ranting about vaccines. It began with the rapper revealing she skipped this year’s Met Gala because wasn’t vaxxed. She then told a bizarre story, claiming her cousin’s friend became “impotent” and their “testicles became swollen” after their dose. Her claims quickly gained traction on Twitter and various people, from Dr. Anthony Fauci to Trinidad & Tobago’s health minister, have refuted her story. However, Fox News’ Tucker Carlson is completely on board and even requested to speak to the rapper’s cousin’s friend.

Now, Minaj’s comments have allegedly gotten her locked out of her Twitter account, as she revealed on her Instagram Story. “I’m in Twitter jail y’all,” she wrote. “They didn’t like what I was saying over there on that block, I guess [eyebrow-raising emoji] my poll was gonna be asking questions is OK,” she said, adding, “I like being fking dumb. Then boom. Can’t tweet.”

Despite her claims, a spokesperson Twitter told Vulture and Huffington Post’s Philip Lewis that they “did not take any enforcement action” towards her account.

Her post comes after she shared a video from Carlson’s show. The Fox News claimed the backlash she received was simply Democrats “bullying” her. Minaj reposted the clip from the broadcast with a dart emoji, implying that she agreed with Carlson’s statements.

While it was easy enough to tell that Nicki Minaj’s tweet featuring a cousin’s vaccine horror story probably wasn’t true based on its junior high urban myth-level sourcing, a new report cast even more aspersions on the likely tall tale by citing one important missing factor. When even Tucker Carlson doesn’t believe you, it might be time to issue a retraction.

Nicki’s story cited her cousin in Trinidad, who told her that his friend’s wedding was canceled by his adverse reaction to a COVID vaccine — swollen testicles and impotence. However, the Health Minister of Trinidad & Tobago, Dr. Terrence Deyalsingh, refuted the claim at a press conference, explaining that, “We could not respond in real-time yesterday to Ms. Minaj [because] we had to check and make sure that what she was claiming was either true or false. We did, and unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim. As far as we know, at this point in time, there has been no such reported side effect or adverse event.”

He further lamented the cost of the investigation in both time and effort, which could have gone to shoring up real COVID defenses that would actually help people. His comments echoed those of Dr. Anthony Fauci, who also had to debunk the AOL chain letter rumor-quality anecdote in an interview with Jake Tapper. Meanwhile, CNC3 Television in Port of Spain, Trinidad also had some thoughts on the tweet, directly admonishing Nicki for misusing her platform. Props for calling it a “Bacchanal story.”

Seriously, though, Nicki’s cousin’s friend — if he even exists — should probably seek treatment for what sounds like a sexually transmitted disease… and then get the damn vaccine. I have no advice on repairing his relationship; next time, wear a condom or something. As for Nicki, a good prescription would be another social media hiatus… and getting the damn vaccine.