Trump’s joke recycled racist ‘Black soldiers dancing’ trope during Vietnam War.
Nicki Minaj’s MAGA support seen as willingly enabling racist caricatures.
Backlash highlights Trump’s history of using Black celebrities for photo ops.
Donald Trump took time during his White House Correspondents’ Dinner to bring racism to the forefront with a MAGA Minaj joke that’s leaving a sour taste in some people’s mouths.
Source: Win McNamee / Getty
During a portion of his prewritten jokes to the room of his supporters, he referred to the White House shooting incident that occurred during the event’s first scheduled date in April and included a reference to Nicki Minaj in the process.
“After hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, ‘Get down!’ which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking,” the President said. “Can you believe it? She’s the only one that really understood what that meant.”
Surely, Nicki won’t mind the racial implications of Trump’s insinuation that gunshots would be a cue for her to twerk, seeing as how she’s been an avid supporter of his, going as far as showing up to White House events and advocating on his behalf.
Much like the other notable Black figureheads that have come out in support of Trump—looking at you, Stephen A. Smith—whether Minaj will understand that there isn’t truly a seat at the table for her remains to be seen.
For now, the internet is taking on the job of breaking down why Trump’s comments hold significant weight in the never-ending fight against treating Black women like hypersexualized caricatures.
Comedian Loni Love chimed in with a historical reference, pointing out that Trump’s joke was seemingly a recycled one that once mocked Black soldiers lost in combat during the Vietnam War.
“It’s a stolen classic racist shock-humor riddle joke,” she said in a post on X. “The original was ‘why did more Black soldiers die during the Vietnam war? Because when they said get down they started dancing….’”
Whew, chile. Racism is truly eternal.
Still, some users didn’t find Trump’s comments surprising, as his history of carting out Black celebrities willing to be used for nothing more than photo opportunities is well-documented. With some even pointing out that Nicki’s presence amongst the MAGA loyalists was fraught with shame from the beginning, as her claims that Trump gifted her one of his gold citizenship cards were quickly disputed by his staffers.
“this is racially charged but what could you expect from this racist clown when maga minaj willingly signed up for this,” one social media user commented.
“proof that she’s been nothing but a caricature of a black woman to him all this time. pathetic,” said another.
Anyone waiting on Nicki to make a statement worth hearing need not hold their breathe as she made it clear during her sit-down with Erika Kirk that she doesn’t pay attention to the backlash from her allegiance to Trump.
“We’re the cool kids. The other people, they’re the ones who are still just disgruntled. But really, they’re just disgruntled with themselves,” Minaj told Kirk during a Turning Point USA panel. “They are angry with themselves, you guys, so you can’t wake up and think about somebody who is determined to just stay mad. I literally tell them, ‘Stay mad,’ ’cause we’re going to stay joyful and peaceful and iconic and smart, and we’re gonna stay thinkers in a world that doesn’t want us to think. We will think by ourselves, on our own. We will continue to think.”
