Rapper Nicki Minaj accepted an invite to the United Nations after publicly thanking President Donald Trump for taking the persecution of Nigerian Christians “seriously.”
Minaj, whose legal name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, took to X on Saturday to commend Trump for suggesting “the U.S.A. will immediately stop all aid and assistance to Nigeria” unless the government intervened in the violence that the president alleged centered on “our CHERISHED Christians.”
“Reading this made me feel a deep sense of gratitude. We live in a country where we can freely worship God,” Minaj wrote, referring to a screenshot of Trump’s original Truth Social post. “No group should ever be persecuted for practicing their religion. We don’t have to share the same beliefs in order for us to respect each other.
“Numerous countries all around the world are being affected by this horror & it’s dangerous to pretend we don’t notice,” Minaj added. “Thank you to The President & his team for taking this seriously. God bless every persecuted Christian. Let’s remember to lift them up in prayer.”
Minaj was born in Trinidad and Tobago but moved to New York City at an early age. According to an interview from last year, Minaj was still not a U.S. citizen and therefore cannot vote in U.S. elections.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz responded to Minaj’s X post Saturday.
“@NICKIMINAJ, thank you for using your platform to speak out in defense of the Christians being persecuted in Nigeria. We cannot allow this to continue. Every brother and sister of Christ must band together and say, ‘Enough!’” Waltz wrote.
“If you ever find yourself in New York, come by the US Embassy to the United Nations. I would love to speak with you in more depth about what our administration is doing to protect Christians’ freedoms all over the world,” Waltz added.
Minaj responded to the online invitation by writing, “I’d be honored. Thank you, Ambassador.”
Daniel Bwala, the spokesman for the Nigerian president, agreed with Trump that there have been instances of terrorism and insurgency in the country. However, Bwala stopped short of confirming that Christians are unfairly targeted and said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is actively fighting terrorism and has “massive results to show for it.”
“As for the differences as to whether terrorists in Nigeria target only Christians or in fact all faiths and no faiths, the differences if they exist would be discussed and resolved by the two leaders when they meet in the coming days, either in State House or White House,” Bwala said in a statement.
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Nigeria has been a U.N. member since 1960. The next U.N. General Assembly, hosted in New York, is slated for Nov. 24.
Minaj has a history of joking about Trump, including his name in a performance of her song Anaconda in 2016, prior to his winning the election. She gave a soft endorsement of Trump’s former opponent Hilary Clinton but also noted that Trump’s campaign would make “the ultimate reality show.”
