Don Lemon responds to ‘homophobic bigot’ Nicki Minaj as she doubles down on anti-gay slur
Nicki Minaj has doubled down on calling Don Lemon a “c*** sucker’ – and he has responded. (Getty)
Nicki Minaj has doubled down on calling Don Lemon a "c*** sucker' – and he has responded. (Getty)
Rapper Nicki Minaj has doubled down on her use of an anti-gay slur aimed at gay journalist Don Lemon, after Lemon called her a “homophobic bigot”.
On Monday (19 January), “Super Bass” rapper Minaj referred to former CNN news anchor Lemon as “DON ‘C*** SUCKIN’ LEMON” in a post on X, formerly Twitter, after the journalist reported on a protest against the presence of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Cities Church, a Christian church in St Paul, Minnesota.
Minaj added that she wanted “thug” Lemon “in jail” as she believed “he would never do that to any other religion”. She shared the post alongside an image of Chucky the doll wearing a wig.
Lemon, who is gay, married real estate agent Tim Malone in 2024.
In a TikTok video posted later on Monday on Lemon’s official account, the journalist urged Minaj to “stop talking s*** for which [she] knows nothing about”.
“People have been asking me about responding to Nicki Minaj’s unhinged, homophobic tweet about me,” he said, before addressing Minaj directly.
“This is out of your depth, by the way. You are a homophobic bigot. You don’t care about African-Americans. You’re not an African-American. From what I know, you are reportedly an undocumented citizen, so you should be deported under Donald Trump’s rules,” he continued, referencing Trump’s vehemently anti-immigration stance.
Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj, reportedly said on a TikTok livestream in 2024 that she is “not a citizen of America” as she was born on the island of Trinidad and Tobago. Minaj said during the stream that having moved to America as a child, and after paying “millions of dollars” in tax in the country, she should have been awarded an “honorary citizenship many, many, many thousands of years ago”.
Lemon continued his video by referencing the criminal convictions of Minaj’s husband Kenneth Petty and her brother, Jelani Maraj.
Petty is a level two registered sex offender in New York, after he spent four years in jail from 1995 for the attempted rape of a then 16-year-old. He was 17 at the time. In 2006, he was sentenced to 10 years in prison for first degree manslaughter after shooting Lamont Robinson dead in 2002. He was released in 2013, spending a further five years on supervised release.
In 2020, the “Starships” rapper’s older brother Jelani Maraj was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the rape of an 11-year-old girl.
“You have nerve to talk about me and what you think that I do? Nicki Minaj. Get a life,” Lemon added.
“Stop being a ‘pick me’. You should of put a ‘pick me’ doll on that damn tweet instead of a Chucky doll because you are nothing but a ‘pick me’. I choose not to pick you, and so should Black people, and so should gay people. [They] shouldn’t buy your music. Clock that.”
Minaj refused to apologise for her original post, instead doubling down and re-posting the anti-gay “c*** sucker” slur.
“I purposely wrote it that way b/c I knew that would be the only way to get the c*** suckas to post about it. They would’ve all collectively ignored the despicable behavior displayed by Lemon head,” Minaj wrote on X, responding to a since-deleted post from a fan.
“I’m glad they’re angry. They’re about to get angrier,” she added.
Nicki Minaj’s verbal assault against Lemon is the latest in a growing list of anti-LGBTQ+ actions from the 12-time Grammy nominated star.
Back in November, Minaj wrote on X that Christians in Nigeria were facing an “existential threat” and shared her “deep sense of gratitude” for president Trump for raising the issue and supporting Christianity.
After a number of Minaj’s fans called her out for her praise of Trump, due to his noted anti-LGBTQ+ views, she slammed them for making the plight of Christians “about [them] being gay”.
In December, she took aim at governor of California Gavin Newsom over his support for transgender children, and reshared a social media video from the White House which used her song “Va Va Voom” – despite the video featuring a celebration of Trump’s push for anti-trans legislation.
That same month, the musician joined Erika Kirk, the wife of late, right-wing Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, on stage at an AmericaFest event. During their conversation, she praised Trump’s supporters as the “cool kids” and said that the president’s administration is “full of people with heart and soul”.
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