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Nicki Minaj “should be ashamed” after tweeting vaccine myths, says UK’s chief medical officer
By Andy Malt | Published on Wednesday 15 September 2021
A day when Piers Morgan calls you an idiot is unremarkable. However, if the top medical scientists of two countries join in too, then that suggests you might have put your foot right in your mouth. And so, welcome to Tuesday for Nicki Minaj.
This all started with the big old Met Gala, which took place on Monday. Although initially scheduled to attend, Minaj pulled out on Sunday, noting COVID-19 concerns. She revealed that she had recently contracted the disease and said that, with a young child to care for, she was unwilling to come into contact with it again and risk her health just in order “to be seen”.
So far, so sensible. Although it then emerged that Minaj has not yet received a COVID-19 vaccination. And being vaccinated was a requirement of attendance for the Met Gala.
“They want you to get vaccinated for the Met”, she tweeted. “If I get vaccinated it won’t [be] for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now”.
OK, fine. But what research is she doing that’s taking so long? Well, she did a Twitter poll to find out what the best vaccine is. She also admitted that she’ll almost certainly have to get vaccinated if she wants to tour.
However, the piece of Minaj’s vaccine research everyone focussed on was contained in this tweet: “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it and 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 and make sure you’re comfortable with your decision, not bullied”.
It’s not clear what her cousin’s friend’s medical credentials are, but now people with actual proper letters after their name have been asked to waste their time responding to this tweet.
The United States’ top medical scientist Dr Anthony Fauci was asked on CNN if there was any basis to the claim that COVID vaccines could make you impotent. “The answer to that is a resounding ‘no'”, he said. “There’s no evidence that it happens, nor is there any mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen. So the answer to your question is ‘no'”.
Meanwhile, yesterday afternoon the UK’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Chris Whitty was asked to comment on Minaj’s claims. He said that she and others spreading such rumours “should be ashamed”.
“There are a number of myths that fly around, some of which are just clearly ridiculous and some of which are clearly designed just to scare”, he said during a press conference yesterday. “That happens to be one of them. That is untrue”.
“There are a group of people who’ve got strange beliefs and [that’s] fine, and they make their own choices [which is] in a sense, also fine. Adults are allowed to make their own choices, that is a basic principle of medical ethics, actually. But there are also people that go around trying to discourage other people from taking a vaccine which could be life-saving or prevent them from having life-changing injuries to themselves”.
“Many of those people, I regret to say, will know they are pedalling untruths but they still do it”, he concluded. “In my view, they should be ashamed”.
Minaj then responded to this on Twitter by saying that, although “I guess that was a diss”, she really liked his accent.
Piers Morgan also has a British accent, of course. And although he made the mistake of writing down his criticism of Minaj instead of saying it out loud on national TV, she did also initially give him some leeway as a result.
“Professor Whitty beefing with the ghastly Nicki Minaj (one of the rudest little madams I’ve ever met) is not the breaking news that I expected today – but it’s most welcome”, he tweeted. “She’s peddling lies that will cost lives”.
“Sir, I’ve never met you”, she responded. “I know… we all look alike. ‘Rudest little madam’. I like it. Has a special ring to it. Thanks Pierce. Love the accent. I’d love to come chat. Scones. Tea. Clown nose and big red shoes for you. Lmk babe”.
So, Morgan pretty much got a pass on calling someone a “little madam”. Let’s not dwell on that though, this story is already long enough. And there are more important things to be discussed at length here. What’s that? Vaccine myths? No, I think we’ve covered that. What we need to know now is when and where Piers ‘Pierce’ Morgan thinks he met Minaj.
“Madam”, he began, “we met on [‘America’s Got Talent’] when you appeared as a guest act – but you refused to say hello to my three young sons because you were ‘too busy’. Oh, and it’s ‘Piers’ – I know, we Brit names all sound alike”.
Right, right, I’m going to ignore the car crash that is that final quip as well. Because, to be fair, it does seem that Morgan is pretty clear about when and where he met Minaj, and what she did to upset him. Although, at the same time, it is quite possible that she really was too busy to meet his children when guesting on the telly show, which would also be fair enough.
That said – as the tweets started to go back and forth – Minaj refused to accept this version of events, saying that she would “never turn down pics with kids”, and that if one of her team said otherwise, they were “out of line”.
However, she then denied that she had ever been on ‘America’s Got Talent’, adding that the performance Morgan was thinking of was actually on ‘American Idol’. Then presented with video evidence of her ‘AGT’ performance in 2011, she subsequently responded: “That’s not me”.
I think she’s probably just trolling by this point, but it may also be that she’s not spoken to enough distant relations yet in order to fully confirm the truth.
At some point during all this, you might be thinking, it would have been a good idea for Minaj’s manager to suggest she step away from Twitter for a little while. That would require Minaj to have a manager though, which – according to Variety – she does not.
The magazine says that Minaj parted ways with Irving Azoff and his Full Stop Management company earlier this year, just two years after signing with the firm. She is now apparently in talks to join Sal Slaiby’s Salxco. No word on what Morgan thinks about that. But he has an opinion on everything, right? Minaj’s cousin’s friend is also yet to comment.
