Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) called rapper Nicki Minaj a “sellout” on Tuesday while criticizing her embrace of President Donald Trump and his MAGA movement.
“We don’t mess with Nicki,” Crockett replied when asked by a TMZ journalist what she thought of the rapper. “I have always loved [rapper] Cardi [B.] more, okay? And clearly, my instincts were right to love on Cardi more than Nicki.”
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When asked about her distaste for Minaj, Crockett explained, “I just don’t do sell-outs, especially in this moment, right? Like things are too serious, there are too many people that are being harmed, and especially with her being an immigrant, then deciding to go and cozy up to this administration that is specifically putting targets on the backs of immigrants and anyone who stands with them — even if they’re U.S citizens, they can catch a bullet — that is wrong. I don’t even understand how you can play with it and pretend like it’s anything but wrong.”
Crockett’s reference to U.S. citizens catching a bullet likely alluded to queer mother of three Renee Good and Veterans Affairs’ ICU nurse Alex Pretti, both of whom were killed by federal immigration enforcement officers last month in Minneapolis. Trump administration officials referred to both as domestic terrorists and blamed them for their own deaths.
Under Trump’s Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents have infiltrated blue state cities with large immigrant and non-white populations. An estimated 32 people died in ICE custody in 2025, according to The Guardian. Of the estimated 59,762 people in ICE custody as of last November, 16,523 had no criminal record — roughly 28%. Federal immigration agents have ignored or denied claims of citizenship and refused to release Americans who have valid proof of citizenship.
Crockett said she thinks Minaj has embraced Trump for “papers,” perhaps a reference to immigration paperwork. Crockett alluded to the fact that Minaj is an undocumented immigrant who came to the U.S. from Trinidad and Tobago at the age of five. Crockett also alluded to the fact that Minaj’s husband is a registered sex offender.
“I don’t know if [she’s cozying up to Trump] because she looking for some papers for some people, or if she’s looking for them other papers, because, you know, I hear that she got family members that’s got a little, you know, a few little issues, right? And so maybe she needs them other papers because he love to hand those out, usually at a cost, right?”
“But going after people like Don Lemon, who I love dearly, just wrong, like, she’s just on the wrong side of history. So I hope that people remember all of this when she comes back and she’s broke and she’s begging for money and support, because something tells me MAGA ain’t gonna do it,” Crockett added, alluding to the Trump administration’s recent arrest of gay journalist Don Lemon for broadcasting an anti-ICE protest at a church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Minaj has called him anti-gay slurs.
Crockett questioned whether other music fans would “want to continue to support or elevate a person’s platform who’s then going to turn around and do things that are demeaning to us as a society.”
When the TMZ interviewer then asked Crockett if she was surprised that the conservative organization Turning Point USA didn’t include Minaj in its alternative Super Bowl halftime show, Crockett replied, “She may now understand her place as it relates to MAGA, but maybe she won’t. Who knows?” Turning Point USA’s halftime show features only white country-rock musicians.
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