The Friday night makeup dinner found President Donald Trump delivering jokes to a broad audience.
When he stepped to the podium, he treated the occasion celebrating free expression as if it were a Comedy Central roast.
With one notable exception, his set wasn’t particularly funny, and at least one quip targeted a longtime ally within the Black community: Nicki Minaj.
The president stepped up to attack Hollywood and the media, and he wasted no time on the “Super Bass” artist, one of his most vocal Black celebrity backers.
View on Threads
The jab came during the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner on July 24 at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington, D.C. The president used a portion of his routine to revisit the organization’s April gala, which had been cut short after a gunman breached security and shots were fired, prompting guests to dive for cover.
Yet he attempted to defuse the moment with a barb that landed with the force of a rock, prompting many to brand him racist.
“After hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, ‘Get down!’ which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking,” Trump said. “Can you believe it? She’s the only one that really understood what that meant.”
The crowd reportedly responded with polite laughter, but online commentary arrived swiftly and harshly.
Threads users immediately chimed in, with one person declaring, “This is not mental illness, this is racism without a filter.”
Another commented, “That is so racist and an age old trope .. I am surprised his writers didn’t start a joke about Ebonics.. this admin is just disgusting.” A third simply gasped, “He is just such an embarrassment. Why did she align herself with this moron?”
Someone else writing, “That’s what she gets,” while another user added, “I don’t feel bad for Nicki that’s what happens when you align yourself with scum.”
Minaj playfully clapped back the following day on X, sharing an image of a pink-haired Chucky doll with the caption, “How I’ll be looking @ the President next time I see him.”
How I’ll be looking @ the President next time I see him. https://t.co/dVw3CpCqfP pic.twitter.com/jEUOdOjG3p
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 25, 2026
Fans quickly swarmed her comments, and the discourse soon turned messier.
WOW!
— I’m Not That Short (@SheBleedsHipHop) July 26, 2026
One user wrote, “Your massa making you the laughing stock for the white people club. how embarrassing.”
How ima be looking at you when I see you pic.twitter.com/fhm3cehI01
— Nikquaꨄ︎ (@SugarWalls92) July 25, 2026
The roast marked the culmination of months in which Minaj had cozied up to the president after years of signaling mixed political intentions.
She joined Trump at a White House Rose Garden event earlier in the month, then posed with him inside the Oval Office. Posting the photo to X on July 6, she wrote, “Whoa!!!! #WhiteHouseBarbie with her favorite President of all time!!!”
Earlier in 2026, she attended the Trump Accounts summit and described herself as “probably the president’s No. 1 fan.” That same month she appeared at a Kennedy Center screening of first lady Melania Trump’s documentary.
Minaj told Time magazine in a May 2026 interview that she had quietly supported Trump for years but remained silent for fear of blowback from the industry.
“Many celebrities feel the way I do, but they don’t say it,” she said. “Sometimes, you just need one brave person to bear the impact. I think I am the catalyst for that change.”
The hosts of “The View” were skeptical of that explanation.
Sunny Hostin pointed to Minaj’s citizenship paperwork becoming finalized after her appearance with Trump, and she speculated about pardon hopes tied to her husband Kenneth Petty, and Minaj’s brother who is incarcerated.
Neither man faced federal conviction, rendering them ineligible for clemency, and Hostin bluntly suggested, “I would suspect, perhaps the reason that she has gone MAGA is for personal.”
Today, the woman who once boasted about being the president’s biggest fan has become a punchline in Trump’s routine.
He teased her sexualized image in a bid to appear clever in front of reporters, cameras, and a room full of the same media figures she spent months defending Trump against.
Minaj had built an entire rebranding around proximity to Trump, trading Barbz loyalty for Rose Garden photo-ops and Oval Office selfies.
But Friday night demonstrated that no amount of White House access buys lasting respect, only a seat close enough to be roasted by the man himself. The rapper’s post suggested she was in on the joke, yet Minaj may not realize that her new circle could be laughing at her rather than with her.
