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Nicki Minaj has said and done some outrageous things in the past – but we think her latest comments about the COVID vaccine might just be the most controversial and jaw-dropping thing she has ever said. We still can’t believe it!
The 38-year-old rapper caused a lot of controversy when she took to social media to share her opinions about Coronavirus – specifically, some of the conspiracy theories surrounding the side effects of the COVID-19 vaccines.
The mom-of-one first started talking about the subject when she tweeted about her cousin’s alleged hesitancy to get the vaccine, due to fears of impotency. In a tweet from September 13, the Bang Bang rapper claimed that her cousin in Trinidad (where she is originally from) “won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen”.
To recap, false claims about the vaccines causing infertility have spread through the internet since the vaccines first became available earlier this year. Although vaccines can have slightly mild side effects for some people, infertility has not been listed as one of the side effects of any of the vaccines that have been approved.
“There are stories out there on the Internet about how vaccination can lead to infertility. There’s absolutely nothing to that,” Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, told The Washington Post earlier this year. And just last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that “there is currently no evidence that any vaccines, including COVID-19 vaccines, cause fertility problems in women or men.”
Many people commented on Minaj’s status, saying that her tweet was dangerous as it spread misinformation about the virus and the vaccines, and also put vulnerable people at further risk, if it steered them away from getting vaccinated. MSNBC host Joy-Ann Reid noted that Minaj’s tweets could increase vaccine hesitancy in the Black community, which could potentially be life-threatening. “For you to use your platform to encourage our community to not protect themselves and to save their lives? My God, sister, you can do better than that,” she wrote in response to Minaj’s original tweet.
Meghan McCain was another well known commenter who called Minaj's tweet dangerous and irresponsible. "You have an enormous platform and have just spread unimaginable vaccine hesitancy to your fans," McCain wrote, referencing Minaj's 22.6 million Twitter followers. "Not only is it deeply irresponsible, it is very sad. I hope you talk to doctors and scientists like @ashishkjha like I did eventually. People are still dying from covid."
Although Minaj was talking about her cousin in her social media message, she has also made it clear that she is currently not yet vaccinated, although didn’t seem to have a radical, anti-vax view. Instead, she asked her fans to "pray on it", do their research, and not feel bullied to take it. She also hinted that she would most likely need to be vaccinated in the future in order to perform and go on tour, and seemed to suggest that she wouldn't completely rule out being vaccinated. “I’m sure I’ll b vaccinated as well cuz I have to go on tour," she wrote on Twitter, before adding that she would get vaccinated “once I feel I’ve done enough research".
Clearly Minaj didn’t think attending the Met Gala was a reason to get vaccinated, as she was noticeably absent from Monday night's star-studded event. Unlike celebs like Taylor Swift and Sarah Jessica Parker who simply couldn’t attend due to prior commitments (Swift is still in Ireland with her boyfriend Joe Alwyn, who is filming Conversations with Friends, while SJP was busy filming the highly-anticipated Sex and the City spin-off, And Just Like That) Minaj's absence was seemingly all down to her not having the vaccine. In case you didn’t know, one of the Met Gala rules (alongside the no selfies rule) was that absolutely everyone had to be double vaccinated against COVID-19 in order to attend the gala.
"If I get vaccinated it won't for the Met. It'll be once I feel I've done enough research," Minaj tweeted. "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."
What do you make of all the controversy?
