Nicki Minaj joined Donald Trump onstage in Port Huron on October 25 as the president campaigned for Republican candidates ahead of the midterm elections.
“We want our children to grow up in a place where we can be proud of,” the 43-year-old rapper told the crowd. “We don’t want our children to be bombarded with s*x changes, right?”
Highlights
- Nicki Minaj joined Donald Trump onstage in Port Huron and pledged to support him “forever and ever.”
- Her call to “leave the children alone” drew immediate criticism over the criminal histories of husband Kenneth Petty and brother Jelani Maraj.
- Maraj is serving 25 years to life after being convicted of predatory conduct against a minor.
However, her call to “leave the children alone” quickly backfired, as critics immediately started bringing up the disturbing criminal histories of Minaj’s husband and brother, as well as her role defending them.
“Pretending to care about kids when she’s married to a s*x offender,” one person replied.
Nicki Minaj joined Trump onstage and pledged to support him “forever”
Trump introduced Minaj as the “queen of rap” during Sunday’s rally at McMorran Place in Port Huron.
“I don’t like being overshadowed,” Trump joked. “And this woman overshadows me, and I’m angry about it.”
Minaj entered to loud cheers and immediately led the audience in chanting, “We love Trump.”
“I am so honored to be working with this president,” she said. “He represents resilience.”
Minaj told the crowd that Trump had “changed the energy of our country” and given Americans “a brighter future for us and our children.”
She also urged voters to support Rogers and James, describing the midterm elections as a “major turning point for our country.”
Then came the line that would dominate much of the reaction online.
“Leave the children alone,” Minaj said. “President Trump, it is an honor to stand with you every single time and I will continue to support you forever and ever.”
“If you run again, I will support you again.”
Minaj’s relationship with Trump is a major reversal from her earlier political comments
Minaj has not always been a Trump supporter.
In 2015, she described his first presidential campaign as both “childish” and “hilarious.”
Three years later, she spoke out against the Trump administration’s policy of separating migrant children from their parents.
“I came to this country as an illegal immigrant @ 5 years old,” she wrote in 2018.
“I can’t imagine the horror of being in a strange place & having my parents stripped away from me at the age of 5.”
Her political posture changed considerably afterward.
By late 2025, Minaj was appearing at Turning Point USA’s AmericaFest and praising Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
She said people should be allowed to change their minds politically and made clear she no longer worried about backlash from the entertainment industry.
More recently, Minaj appeared in an interview with Lara Trump and urged young Americans to participate in the midterms and “vote red now.”
Minaj has repeatedly defended her husband despite his criminal history
Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, is a registered offender following a 1995 conviction for attempted r*pe in the first degree.
The case dates back to 1994, when Petty and his accuser, Jennifer Hough, were both 16 years old. Hough has maintained publicly that Petty took advantage of her. He served roughly four years in prison after pleading guilty.
Minaj has defended him over the case before.
“He was 15, she was 16. In a relationship,” she wrote in 2018 while responding to criticism of their relationship. “Y’all can’t run my life,” she added, addressing her critics.
Petty’s legal problems did not end there.
After Petty and Minaj moved to California, he failed to register there as an offender, leading to a federal case in which he pleaded guilty in 2021.
A judge sentenced him the following year to three years of probation and one year of home detention, along with a $55,000 fine.
Petty also has another serious conviction unrelated to Hough’s case. He previously spent nearly seven years in prison after pleading guilty to first-degree manslaughter.
Her brother was sentenced to 25 years to life for taking advantage of a child
Minaj’s older brother, Jelani Maraj, has an even more disturbing criminal history.
Maraj was convicted in 2017 of predatory s*xual a**ault against a child and endangering the welfare of a child.
The victim was his 11-year-old stepdaughter.
She testified that Maraj repeatedly violated her during an eight-month period in 2015 while her mother was at work.
Prosecutors said DNA evidence recovered from the child’s pajamas was linked to Maraj, while her younger brother testified that he witnessed one of the assaults.
Maraj denied the allegations.
His defense claimed the accusations were part of an effort by the girl’s mother to extort $25 million from Minaj, an argument prosecutors rejected.
In January 2020, Maraj was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.
"Girl, worry about your husband," a viewer wrote
