Nicki Minaj’s Anti-Vax Tweets Have Deadly Effects
Minaj is a good person doing a bad thing
Nicki Minaj has a big heart and even bigger talent. But she also has a big responsibility to not put her fans in physical danger. With over 156 million followers on Instagram, what she says has repercussions in people’s lives and potential reverberations in the country’s economy. Which is why celebrities may have the freedom to say whatever pops into their minds, but we need to hold them accountable when they offer harmful opinions without factual basis. Worse, when there was public backlash to her unsubstantiated claims, Minaj threatened reporters and teamed up with one of African-Americans’ biggest enemies, a Fox pundit and admitted liar, to help support her. This is harmful to America, sure, but it’s especially harmful to Black people.
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It started when Minaj chose not to attend the Met Gala. In one tweet she said: “They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. [I]f I get vaccinated it won't (be) for the Met. It'll be once I feel I've done enough research.” However, she also sent a tweet that suggested she got COVID and that was why she wasn’t going.
What people rightfully jumped on was the phrase “once I feel I’ve done enough research.” The research is already out there and it doesn’t require more than a couple hours at most, which should have been done many months ago. There is no new information that’s going to come out to tip the scales. Almost all immunology experts have declared that the vaccine is our best hope to stop COVID-19, protect our children, and to get the economy healthy so people will have jobs.
Minaj supported her vaccine hesitancy by citing this spurious claim: “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.”