When Nicki Minaj took the stage at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest on Sunday (Dec. 21) and lavished praise on President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, she didn’t just embarrass herself — she exposed how dangerously out of touch some Black celebrities have become. Minaj claimed that Trump and Vance have not “lost touch” with everyday people. That statement is not just false; it is insulting to the lived reality of Black people and marginalized communities in this country.
These are the same men whose administration has overseen mass deportations that tear families apart, rolled back voting rights protections that Black people bled and died for, attacked DEI efforts meant to counter generations of discrimination, and supported the erasure of Black history from classrooms.
This is an administration that criminalizes protest, empowers white nationalist rhetoric, and governs almost exclusively for the wealthy while abandoning the poor. To suggest they are still connected to “common people” requires either willful ignorance or deliberate dishonesty.
The setting matters too. Minaj made these comments at Turning Point USA, an organization founded by Charlie Kirk, a figure with a documented history of anti-Black rhetoric and contempt for civil rights. Standing on that stage was not neutral. It was alignment. And alignment with systems of oppression is never accidental.
Scripture prepares us for moments like this. Jesus warned about hired hands who abandon the flock when danger comes. The prophets condemned those who sided with kings instead of the oppressed. Judas reminds us that betrayal often comes wrapped in familiarity and applause.
From the plantation preacher to the Jim Crow apologist to the modern celebrity pundit, history shows us that there have always been those willing to sell out the community for access, affirmation, or a seat near power.
My faith is unapologetically rooted in liberation. Luke 4 is not symbolic rhetoric — it is a mandate: good news to the poor, release to the captives, freedom for the oppressed. Any praise for leaders actively harming those very people stands in direct contradiction to the gospel.
This moment calls for vigilance. Celebrity does not equal consciousness. Platform does not equal prophetic truth. And silence in the face of betrayal is complicity. We owe it to our ancestors, our children, and our faith to call this hypocrisy out plainly, no matter who the celebrity is.
Bishop Talbert W. Swan, II is a religious leader and community activist. He is a bishop in the Church of God in Christ, heading up Pentecostal churches in Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut and New York.
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