Joe Budden says he is no longer supporting Nicki Minaj following her appearance onstage with Erika Kirk at AmericaFest on Sunday. He addressed both her involvement in the event and what he described as her broader move toward conservative politics during the most recent episode of his podcast.
“I’m out. I’m done. That was it. Sorry, I’m gone,” he said. “That was the last candle on the cake for me. Sorry Barbz, sorry Nicki. Don’t call me. Don’t text me. It is what it is. Sometimes, how you move around out there does have an effect on how I view you. This was one of them things. I’d be a fool to think that you didn’t consider that before you did it, which just says to me that you don’t really give a f*ck.”
Budden went on to criticize Minaj for what he described as anti LGBTQ+ rhetoric and said the situation felt deeply harmful to the Black community. “Didn’t see ‘All little girls matter?’ It was a hot mess on that stage,” he said. “There’s no way to sugarcoat it. I’m done. I’m off… An ounce of Black is Black enough for me. So, when you stand next to people that have made their agendas very clear as it pertains to Black people, then that means you’re complicit… It’s hurtful when people take all of that equity built in Black sh*t and do that with it.”
During AmericaFest, Minaj sat down with Erika Kirk to discuss a range of political issues and once again voiced her support for Donald Trump. She said he “has given so many people hope that there’s a chance to beat the bad guys and to win and to do it with your head held high,” according to The New York Post. She also took aim at California Governor Gavin Newsom during the conversation.
Later that evening, Vice President JD Vance referenced Minaj’s comments while pushing his own stance against DEI initiatives. “Unlike the left, we stand against treating anybody, and I love what Nicki said about this. We don’t treat anybody different because of their race or their sex,” he told the crowd. “So we have relegated DEI to the dustbin of history, which is exactly where it belongs. In the United States of America, you don’t have to apologize for being white anymore.”
