"Where Africa Comes to Stay Informed."
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"Where Africa Comes to Stay Informed."
Nicki Minaj has no interest in justifying her politics to anyone, and she said so on national television Friday night. Sitting for an interview on Fox News beside Small Business Administration chief Kelly Loeffler, the rapper called it an honor to work with the Trump administration and painted the president as sharp, easygoing and down to earth.
Host Laura Ingraham asked what she would tell people who object to her alliance with the White House. Her reply was two words: “Absolutely nothing.”
She then laid out her reasoning. In her telling, Trump behaves the same way in every encounter, is easy to talk to, and leaves people feeling listened to. “I just love him,” she said. “And I’m not going to ever make excuses for that.”
One boundary did come up: she told viewers her upcoming tour will not double as a campaign stage.
Minaj was booked to talk up the SBA’s Million Dollar Pitch Competition, whose finale took place Friday in Washington. The agency, which backs small firms with lending, grants and training, built the event into Freedom 250, the administration’s program marking the nation’s 250th anniversary — essentially a government-run take on Shark Tank.
Five companies pitched a celebrity panel for a slice of $1 million, with the winner taking $400,000 and fifth place collecting $75,000. Clover, the payments firm, funded the purse rather than taxpayers.
She judged with real estate investor Grant Cardone and Airbnb cofounder Joe Gebbia, and actor Dean Cain emceed. The finalists were Compotech, a defense technology firm out of Brewer, Maine; Winton Machine of Suwanee, Georgia; Plas-Tech Tooling of Garner, Iowa; Red River of Gillette, Wyoming; and VetPowered of San Diego. After the SBA named her a judge last month, she called the role a “major, MAJOR KEY” in a post on X.
The Fox appearance is the newest turn in a shift that has split her fanbase. She once took shots at Trump herself, rapping in 2016, “Island girl, Donald Trump want me go home.” By November 2025 she was thanking him publicly for pressuring Nigeria’s government over violence against Christians, and a month later she turned up at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest with Erika Kirk.
In January she joined Trump onstage at a Treasury Department event, describing herself as “probably the president’s No. 1 fan.” She has also said she was given his gold card — the expedited residency program with a $1 million price tag — at no cost. The president reciprocated in February at the White House Black History Month reception, telling the audience, “I love Nicki Minaj.”
Speaking on Katie Miller’s podcast, Minaj traced her support back to seeing Trump targeted, saying she could not stomach watching him bullied and likening the campaigns against him to the treatment she says she has endured for years.
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