Nicki Minaj Says She’s ‘Not Going Anywhere’ After Trump Calls Her His Favorite

Nicki Minaj has publicly signaled that she intends to remain aligned with Donald Trump after he greeted her at the White House as “my favorite.” A video of the encounter circulated online, showing Trump telling the rapper she had been with him “for a long time”—without specifying how long. Minaj responded after a fan account reposted the clip on X. Her message was brief but firm: “Not going anywhere. Right where I need to be.” The post offered no further explanation of what she meant, but it gave fresh attention to her increasingly visible appearances alongside the president. The Oval Office moment took place during Minaj’s visit to Washington, where she served as a celebrity judge for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Million Dollar Pitch Competition. Entrepreneurs presented business ideas to a panel that also included investor Grant Cardone, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and actor Dean Cain. Plas Tech Tooling Inc., a plastic-mold manufacturer from Iowa, received the top award of $400,000; the finalists shared a total of $1 million in prize money. This was not Minaj’s first recent appearance connected to Trump. The article notes that she stood with him during an announcement promoting Trump Accounts in January and attended a White House Rose Garden luncheon over the summer. Her continued presence at administration events has become a talking point, particularly because she criticized Trump’s policies during his first term. In 2018, Minaj condemned the separation of migrant families at the border and invoked her own experience of arriving in the United States from Trinidad as a child. She wrote at the time that she came to the country at five and could not imagine the fear of being separated from her parents. The contrast between that criticism and her current public support has prompted questions about how her views have changed. Her latest post did not address that history or explain her current position. Instead, the message conveyed a clear intention to stay where she believes she belongs. With several White House appearances over roughly a year, Minaj’s relationship with the administration is likely to remain a subject of public discussion.