Petty December is in full swing, and this beef between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and rapper Nicki Minaj just took it from funny to pretty disturbing. There’s a lot to process here, but for the sake of brevity, we’ll zoom in on the fact that we live in an era where rappers and politicians argue online about human rights.
When she rose to fame in 2010, Minaj represented everything that was exciting and subversive about hip-hop; she presented a counterweight to an industry that was seen by some as misogynistic and homophobic. She didn’t openly start dipping her toes in the conservative pond until 2021, when she claimed that the COVID vaccine made a cousin’s friend’s testicle “swollen.” There’ve been several more questionable shenanigans from her, including this past year the apparent allyship with Vice President JD Vance.
But Minaj’s character arc took an unsavory dip last month, when she backed President Donald Trump’s biased assertions that Nigerian Christians are facing a genocide. The Trump administration actually asked her to speak at the UN after that one. Since then, Minaj’s page on X has turned into somewhat of a Donald Trump stan account.
And finally, what all of that brings us to is last week’s weirdness, when Minaj tried to get at California’s charismatic Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on X. If you haven’t seen it, Newsom has been one of very few Democrats to successfully stand up to Trump, and his X account — which we suspect is run by a group of clever Gen Zs — has taken hilarious jabs at the president.
On her X account, Minaj began parroting Trump’s language to describe the governor, calling him “new scum,” which, let’s be honest, is both a lazy and nonsensical burn for such a seasoned lyricist. She also repeatedly called for Newsom to give up on politics. “He thinks he’s Tom Cruise only difference is, his next mission IS impossible. He should get another leading role,” she posted last week.
And then, because this had to get more painful, the beef became about trans kids. In an interview released last week, Newsom said he’d signed more pro-trans bills than any other governor. “I want to see trans kids,” he said, according to the Advocate. “I have a trans godson.”
It was a strong moment, though Newsom’s track record on the trans community has not always been squeaky clean. Earlier this year, he said he believed that letting trans women compete in women’s sports was “unfair.” He also recently vetoed a bill that would establish protections for trans kids in custody and visitation decisions.
Still, Newsom does appear to be on a trajectory of sorts, since he’s doing more for the well-being of the trans community than almost any politician, and it’s disconcerting to see Minaj — who has a huge queer and trans POC fanbase — target him specifically.
In response to his interview, Minaj took to X to insinuate that Newsom was some kind of weirdo for wanting trans children to safely exist. “Imagine being the guy running on wanting to see trans kids. Haha. Not even a trans ADULT would run on that,” she wrote. “Normal adults wake up & think they want to see HEALTHY, SAFE, HAPPY kids.”
In response, Newsom’s account simply posted a video and used the audio for “Hiss,” a Nicki Minaj diss track by Megan Thee Stallion.
Others noticed, of course. Comedian D.L. Hughley swiftly pointed out that Minaj might want to reexamine her newfound concern for children’s safety, given her own husband’s history as a convicted sex offender. And while his jabs might warrant a response from Minaj, any comedy fan of a certain age knows that Hughley is a gifted professional ribber — and she does not want that smoke.
As salacious as this interaction between Minaj and Newsom is, it’s actually also pretty jarring, especially for former Barbz. We’re witnessing, in real time, Minaj turning her back on the communities that championed her when few others did. Early in her career, she was a vocal supporter of the queer community and trans artists, and she herself has said that the community was actually a big part of her success. Minaj also appeared more than happy to embrace queer aesthetics, one being her gay man alter ego, Roman Zolanski.
Her fans have been quick to point out her hypocrisy and have proclaimed that Gag City, the fictional city they made up to support ”Pink Friday 2,” had been deserted.
In my opinion, we’re living at a time when we can’t afford to compromise our values with the artists we support. Minaj’s beef with Newsom hits a nerve because it’s making it clear that we lost an icon — one that not only didn’t stand up for her queer and trans fans when it mattered most, but also attacked an advocate. I never thought I’d live to see the day that Gag City would turn into Flop Town. But, alas, here we are.