Don Lemon has responded to Nicki Minaj calling him out on social media in a homophobic rant on Sunday. He addressed the rapper’s fiery post on X (formerly Twitter) while speaking with TMZ on Monday. In her post, Minaj called for his imprisonment over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest in Minneapolis. Demonstrators disrupted a service at Cities Church, accusing the pastor of cooperating with ICE.
Lemon labeled the insults “disgusting,” adding, “I think Nicki Minaj has made it very clear how she feels about African Americans in this country. I don’t think she’s one of them. Under Trump’s rule, she should be deported. I don’t think, reportedly, she is a legal citizen here. She is undocumented. So, she has shown her disdain for African Americans. Why are you supporting her? Why are you buying her record? I have lots of friends who love Nicki Minaj. Why are you supporting this homophobic, bigoted, ignorant woman? You should not be supporting her. Nicki Minaj is clearly out of her depth. She doesn’t understand politics. She doesn’t understand journalism, and I’m not surprised she is weighing in on something that is beyond her capacity.”
Lemon concluded by telling Minaj to “sit the f*ck down,” and brought up her husband, Kenneth Petty, and his criminal history. “Nicki Minaj, f*ck off, stop being a homophobic bigot, get a life and some brains,” he ended.
As for Minaj’s post, she wrote: “DON ‘C*CK SUCKIN’ LEMON IS DISGUSTING. HOW DARE YOU? I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION. LOCK HIM UP!!!!!”
Don Lemon’s Church Protest Coverage
Nicki Minaj’s mention of jail for Don Lemon comes after the Justice Department’s assistant attorney general for civil rights, Harmeet Dhillon, issued a warning for the former CNN host on X. “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service,” she wrote, as caught by The New York Post. “You are on notice!”
Lemon responded by claiming not to have any affiliations with the demonstrators, instead suggesting he was there to cover the protest as a journalist. Protests have been going on in Minneapolis since ICE agent Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good, earlier this month.
