Nicki Minaj attempted to shut down drag queen Heidi N Closet’s criticism about her alignment with the MAGA movement by correcting a grammatical error, but the drag queen immediately escalated the situation with a devastating reference to the criminal convictions of Minaj’s husband and brother, as per Daily Dot. You know, it’s never a good look when you try to win an argument online by pointing out a typo, especially when the person you’re arguing with has a much bigger moral point to make.
The rapper recently showed a ton of flattery toward President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance at AmericaFest, which is a big event hosted by Turning Point USA. This hard-right turn into MAGA territory has caused a lot of backlash over the last few months, and honestly, you can see why. The current administration’s attacks on the transgender community have a huge impact on drag queens, whether they are trans or not, pushing many performers firmly against the president and his supporters.
Heidi N Closet, a competitor on RuPaul’s Drag Race, was clearly unimpressed with Minaj’s political alignment, taking to X to call the rapper out for her actions. She published a post calling Minaj “MAGA Minaj” and suggesting the rapper’s issues with her were deeper than just aesthetics. “MAGA Minaj,” Heidi wrote, “so it was more then just my hair and makeup you hated.”
Minaj has lost 10 million followers on her Instagram page following her TPUSA appearance
The next day, the rapper replied with a quote-tweet that simply read “than,” accompanied by an image of herself holding a microphone. Using “then” in place of “than” is a common mistake, but it’s also an easy opening for a quick deflection that completely ignores the core point of the post. But Heidi wasn’t about to let Minaj get away with a simple grammar lesson. Later, she targeted the rapper’s moral positions again in a tweet that didn’t name names but clearly referenced the ongoing feud.
“The mug and hair was a chop that day I can admit that!!” Heidi wrote. “However something I can say is I never have nor will stand with pedos.” The drag queen is likely bringing up the awful fact that both Minaj’s husband and her brother have rape convictions involving underage girls on their records. That’s a truly damning accusation to level against someone who is trying to position herself as a moral authority, even if only over grammar.
Many people were just unimpressed with the rapper’s overall response, feeling like she completely lost the argument by resorting to pedantry. “Nothing says ‘I lost the argument’ than correcting spelling,” said @MissLunaDuBois. “Doubling down yet again… But of course, you don’t have a real response.”
What’s perhaps most interesting is the noticeable change in who is actually defending Minaj online. Some users pointed out that the usual Barbz seemed to be missing. Instead, a completely different group of followers appears to be taking their place, indicating a significant shift in her core audience. “Her replies being blue check right wing accounts omfggg the barbs are goneee,” wrote @Bravebooks.
It looks like Minaj might be trading in her long-time fan base for a brand new political cohort that she signed into when she took up a role in the Trump administration.
Published: Dec 24, 2025 05:00 pm