Trevor Noah’s Grammys Quip About Nicki Minaj’s New Trump Friendship Gets Raucous Applause — and a Thumbs Up from Chrissy Teigen

NEED TO KNOW

• At the 2026 Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 1, host Trevor Noah noted in his opening monologue that rapper Nicki Minaj wasn’t in attendance

• The comedian then quipped that the rapper “is still at the White House with Donald Trump discussing very important issues”

• Noah’s cheeky monologue remarks come shortly after Minaj called herself President Donald Trump’s “No. 1 fan”

Trevor Noah poked fun at Nicki Minaj’s headline-making friendship with Donald Trump at the 2026 Grammy Awards,

During Noah’s opening monologue during the Sunday, Feb. 1 ceremony, he walked around the Crypto.com Arena, greeting nominees and previous winners alike, before calling out one missing face: Minaj.

“Nicki Minaj is not here. She is not here,” Noah, 41, said. Noah’s remark was met with an uproar of applause. Behind Noah, attendees Chrissy Teigen and John Legend reacted to the callout, with the model giving a thumbs up seemingly in support of her absence.

“She is still at the White House with Donald Trump discussing very important issues,” Noah continued. 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.”

Trevor Noah during the 2026 Grammys

Frazer Harrison/Getty

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Noah’s comments about the rapper follow her appearance at the Trump Accounts Summit in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Jan. 28. 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?”

Nicki Minaj and President Donald Trump on January 28, 2026 in Washington, DC.

Win McNamee/Getty

Minaj’s recent appearance in D.C. comes 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+.

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