Messy Moments That Tarnished Nicki Minaj's Reputation Beyond Repair

Nicki Minaj is not one to back down from a fight, and she's not afraid to start quite a few fights of her own. This is likely why there is a slew of celebs who simply cannot stand the "Anaconda" rapper. The outpouring of negativity dramatically increased, however, when she came out in strong support of Donald Trump. She made an appearance alongside Erika Kirk at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest conference in December 2025 before showing off her cakey makeup alongside Trump himself in January 2026. Minaj stood on stage with the divisive president and declared (via The Independent), "I am probably the president's number one fan, and that's not going to change."

For many people, Minaj's unabashed support for Trump came as a surprise. It has been suggested that she's been cozying up to Trump in an effort to secure a pardon for her husband, Kenneth Petty, a registered sex offender, and possibly for her brother, Jelani Maraj, who is serving 25 years to life in prison for a heinous crime. Many critics point to comments she's made that have attacked Trump in the past, including comments about his hardline immigration policies. That makes sense, considering Minaj herself was brought to the country as a five-year-old undocumented immigrant. It seems that Trump has granted her citizenship through one of his "gold cards," suggesting a bit of a quid pro quo. 

Whether it's her association with controversial and morally ambiguous characters — such as her brother or the president of the United States — or her picking fights with other beloved artists, Minaj frequently stressed the limits of how much her fans are willing to put up with. At this point, however, she's put herself in the middle of enough messy moments and bitter feuds that her reputation seems irreparably tarnished.

Being a judge on "American Idol" has often led to some professional disagreements and occasional tension between otherwise friendly stars. When it came to Nicki Minaj and Mariah Carey, the drama was more than just some snarky banter or stress from long hours of shooting. The "Super Bass" singer and the elusive chanteuse simply could not stand each other. The pair both served as judges on Season 12 of the hit reality competition series — alongside a very uncomfortable Keith Urban — and the animosity between Minaj and Carey was almost always palpable.

Even though Minaj and Carey had previously collaborated together on Carey's 2009 track "Up Out My Face," something had apparently driven a wedge between them in the three years between then and when they started as "Idol" judges. Leaked footage from the set surfaced on TMZ before the season even began, showing Carey and Minaj swearing at one another. Minaj called Carey out for apparently being a prima donna on set, and Carey responded in turn by calling Minaj a "crazy b****."

While Carey herself is no stranger to accusations of diva behavior, the feud between the pair didn't paint Minaj in a good light, especially with reports of her allegedly threatening Carey with physical violence. Ryan Seacrest told the "Today" show in September 2012 that Minaj and Carey just have strong personalities, but claimed they always manage to work through it, stating, "At the end of the day, we all hug and laugh and go home." However, this seemed in stark contrast to Carey's comments regarding her time with Minaj. The celebrated vocalist laughingly told Hot 97 in 2013, "It was like going to work every day in hell with Satan."

Back in 2014, Nicki Minaj dropped the innuendo-laden music video for her raunchy single "Anaconda," and the video broke all kinds of viewing records, racking up over one billion views to become one of the most-watched music videos of the year online. However, when the MTV Video Music Awards nominations came out, "Anaconda" wasn't nominated in the Video of the Year category. Minaj took this personally, suggesting the awards were biased against Black women and people who didn't conform to mainstream body standards and aesthetics.

Minaj then seemingly took a swipe at Taylor Swift when she tweeted, "If your video celebrates women with very slim bodies, you will be nominated for vid of the year." Swift's video for "Bad Blood" happened to have been nominated, and starred a slew of her famous friends — many of whom (but not all) happened to be petite, slim (and primarily white) women. It wasn't long before many fans connected the dots, and the not-so-subtle shade elicited a hurt response from Swift herself. "I've done nothing but love & support you," Swift tweeted (via GQ). "It's unlike you to pit women against each other."

While this could have gone south very quickly, even more so today, with Swift's legion of vocal followers, the pair managed to work things out. Minaj said she wasn't talking about "Bad Blood," Swift apologized for being defensive, and the pair have since been close and supportive during subsequent events. However, it's not hard to imagine that some Swift followers still hold a grudge about Minaj seemingly trying to throw shade on a day that likely meant a lot for Swift.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, there were a lot of poorly researched drama and conspiracy theories about the coronavirus vaccine. Many celebs wound up in hot water for voicing opinions calling the vaccines into question, and Nicki Minaj turned out to be one of them. In fact, not wanting to get the vaccine was one of the big reasons she chose not to go to the 2021 Met Gala. The rapper tweeted at the time, "They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won't [be] 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."

While Minaj did encourage fans to wear protective masks to keep from getting the vaccine – meaning she wasn't as far into fringe conspiracies as some other ignorant and incorrect celebs — her efforts to dissuade people from getting vaccinated subjected her to lots of mockery. It got even worse when she shared a bizarre anecdote that she claimed was a result of the vaccine. "My cousin in Trinidad won't get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent," Minaj tweeted at the time. "His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding."

The deluge of pushback and criticism was instant and deafening. Minaj did her best to take swipes at those reporting negatively on her remarks, but her comments came off as tone-deaf and desperate. The damage was done, and Minaj made herself into the butt of every joke.

Nicki Minaj has been involved in many feuds with fellow rappers and artists, including SZA, Miley Cyrus, possibly Iggy Azalea, and countless others. However, it's her ongoing drama with Cardi B that seems to have gotten the most personal. The tension seemingly began in 2017 over some low-key shade Minaj threw at Cardi on social media, which was quickly glossed over when they both collaborated with Migos for the 2018 track "MotorSport." However, there was still some seemingly unspoken tension between the women, who threw subtle digs at each other during subsequent radio interviews.

While the pair seemed to get along when they ran into one another at the Met Gala in May 2018, the superstars got into a high-profile fight at Harper's Bazaar's ICONS party the following September. The altercation got physical, and Cardi wound up throwing one of her shoes at Minaj before leaving the party with a lump on her head and her dress damaged. According to posts made by Cardi on social media, she was set off by Minaj allegedly insulting Cardi's infant daughter, Kulture, and questioning Cardi's abilities as a mother, claims that Minaj staunchly denied.

In 2025, however, Minaj did directly insult Kulture by name on social media – as well as Cardi's other young children — and used AI-generated images of Cardi to mock and insult the rapper on X, formerly Twitter. The posts made Minaj look somewhat desperate and sad, and many began to ridicule her, including "The Breakfast Club" host Charlamagne tha God. Minaj responded by tweeting at Donald Trump and asking him to "lock them all up," a move that led to only more mocking and condemnation from critics online.

After working with Nicki Minaj on her 2019 single "Hot Girl Summer," Megan Thee Stallion seemingly cooled on their friendship fairly quickly. She later collaborated with Minaj's mortal enemy, Cardi B, for the 2020 single "WAP," leading Minaj and Megan to exchange some low-key shade over the following years. Then, in 2024, Megan Thee Stallion dropped a diss track titled "Hiss," in which she makes a reference to "Megan's Law," the law that requires sex offenders to register with a national database. This was interpreted as a swipe at Minaj's husband, Kenneth Petty, who himself is a registered sex offender with a criminal record.

Minaj went ballistic and began berating Megan on Instagram Live and every other social media platform possible before releasing the delayed diss track "Big Foot." On the track, Minaj brutally mocked Megan for her height, poked fun at the death of her mother, and joked about Megan getting shot in the foot by Tory Lanez, for which Lanez was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The barrage of venom from Minaj and her decision to insult and mock a female victim of a traumatic shooting earned her quite a bit of hate online. However, what really seemed to sink Minaj was just how much people didn't like "Big Foot" as a song. It wound up on Variety's "Worst Songs of 2024" list and proved to be an embarrassing and petty misfire, yet another nail in the coffin of Minaj's popularity.