During the 2026 Grammy Awards, Trevor Noah delivered a hilarious monologue that poked fun at Nicki Minaj's headline-grabbing friendship with Donald Trump. As he walked around the Crypto.com Arena on Sunday, February 1st, greeting nominees and previous winners, one face was conspicuous by its absence: Minaj.
"Nicki Minaj is not here. She is not here," Noah, 41, said, eliciting an uproar of applause from the audience. Behind him, Chrissy Teigen and John Legend reacted to the callout, with the model giving a thumbs-up sign that seemed to support her absence.
Noah continued, "She is still at the White House with Donald Trump discussing very important issues." He then went into a vocal impression of the president, saying, "Actually Nicki, I have the biggest ass. I have it, everybody's saying it Nicki. I know they say it's you, but it's me WAP, WAP, WAP. Look at it, baby."
Noah's comments about the rapper followed her appearance at the Trump Accounts Summit in Washington, D.C., on January 28th. There, she declared herself "the president's No. 1 fan," adding, "that's not going to change."
"The hate - or what people have to say - it does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more," Minaj, 43, said. "And it's going to motivate all of us to support him more."
"We're not going to let them get away with bullying him," she added. "He has a lot of force behind him, and God is protecting him. Amen?"
Minaj's recent appearance in D.C. came after she attended the United Nations in November 2025 and spoke about religious violence overseas as a guest of the Trump administration. The following month, she closed out Turning Point USA's annual AmericaFest event with a conversation with Erika Kirk. During their joint appearance, Minaj praised the president and his administration when she took the stage with Kirk.
"I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president," she told Kirk. "I don't know if he even knows this, but he's given so many people hope."
The Grammys are broadcasting live from Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on CBS or stream them live and on-demand on Paramount+.
