Rapper and Hip-Hop star Nicki Minaj tweeted earlier Tuesday to her 22.7 million followers that the COVID-19 vaccine made her cousin's friend in Trinidad "impotent."
She also urged her followers to make it "their choice" to get vaccinated and not "bullied" into getting the vaccine.
"My cousin in Trinidad won't get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent," She tweeted. "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."
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
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021
The rap superstar also clarified why she was absent from the Met Gala 2021. "They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won't for the Met. It'll be once I feel I've done enough research. I'm working on that now."
They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won’t for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one 🙏♥️
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021
Nicki's tweet has sent world leaders looking to accelerate the vaccination rate into a tailspin.
While the rapper earlier tweeted out that the White House had invited her to a personal briefing, Press Secretary Jen Psaki on September 16th's press briefing clarified that the White House had not sent any invitation to Nicki Minaj. However, the White House offered her a phone call with one of the doctors to answer the questions she had about "the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine."
Amid all the controversy Nicki's tweet has sparked, the Health Ministry of Trinidad has claimed Nicki's tweet to be false. On Wednesday, Trinidad and Tobago Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh also denounced the Grammy-nominated artist's statement as a waste of time as no such cases of "swollen testicles" due to COVID-19 vaccines had been registered in Trinidad.
"One of the reasons why we could not respond yesterday in real-time to Miss Minaj is that we had to check and make sure that what she was claiming was either true or false. Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim," Deyalsingh said.
When asked about Minaj's tweets, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a top US physician-scientist and immunologist, said that there was a lot of misinformation on social media and not to trust everything you see on the internet.
"I'm not blaming her for anything -- but she should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis as except a one-off anecdote, and that's not what science is all about."
There has been no link between the COVID-19 vaccination and impotence in clinical investigations. The CDC has found no evidence that any vaccination, including the COVID-19 vaccine, causes fertility difficulties and recommends pregnant women and anyone who may become pregnant to get vaccinated.
Twitter denied locking Minaj's account, despite her claims on Instagram that she had been placed in "Twitter jail" and was unable to post. Minaj's tweet will stay intact because she provided a personal anecdote. According to Twitter, content that states COVID-19 misinformation as fact may violate the company's policy.
