Nicki Minaj’s latest public appearance has sparked one of the most visible fractures within her fanbase to date.
Over the weekend, the rapper appeared at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest in Arizona, where she sat for a conversation with conservative commentator Erika Kirk and lavishing praise on President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. The moment immediately rippled through social media, prompting some of Minaj’s most devoted fans, the Barbz, to publicly renounce their support for the Queens rapper.
During the event, Minaj framed her political alignment as a result of both personal growth and spiritual rediscovery. She spoke about returning to Christianity after feeling distant from religion during her rise in the music industry, likening the experience to “bumping into a long-lost best friend.”
"That’s how it’s been feeling for me,” she said. “Just going back to God and praying and talking to him.”
But it was her enthusiastic embrace of Trump and Vance that ignited the backlash.
“This administration is full of people with heart and soul, and they make me proud of them. Our vice president, he makes me ... well, I love both of them,” Minaj said. “Both of them have a very uncanny ability to be someone that you relate to. I can relate to them. When I hear them speak, I know that they’re one of us."
Addressing the audience, Minaj described herself and the crowd as “the cool kids,” while characterizing dissenters as “disgruntled with themselves.”
For many fans, particularly queer listeners, who have long formed the backbone of Minaj’s online base, the comments felt like a breaking point.
TikTok quickly filled with videos from longtime Barbz explaining why they could no longer reconcile Minaj’s politics with the impact her music once had on their lives. One creator said they discovered Minaj’s political alignment in the early-morning hours.
“I'm finding out that Nicki Minaj is a Trump supporter, and I mean full-fledged. Like, I'm sure she voted for Trump,” the creator said. “And not only did she vote for Trump? She don't regret it.”
Others began resurfacing older lyrics, including a line from Lil Wayne’s Dedication 4 track “Mercy,” arguing that the signs were always there.
“I’m a Republican voting for Mitt Romney," she rapped. “You lazy bitches is fucking up the economy.”
Some fans are now rewriting Minaj’s lyrics to reflect what they called her “new aesthetic.” One viral clip reworked “Super Bass” to parody her comments at AmericaFest, where she repeatedly said, “Boys, be boys."
“It’s OK. Be boys," Minaj said during the event. "There’s nothing wrong with being a boy. How powerful is that? How profound is that? Boys will be boys, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
