A social media firestorm erupted this week between a famed rapper and a former NCS anchor after the journalist’s intensive protection of a protest that disrupted a worship service at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minn.
According to USA Today, the dispute started Monday after Don Lemon dwell streamed a Jan. 18 demonstration the place protesters accused a church chief of working with federal immigration authorities.
Nicki Minaj lashed out on X, demanding Lemon’s arrest and utilizing a homophobic slur to explain his conduct in the course of the broadcast, which TMZ reported lasted almost seven hours.
Lemon, who’s brazenly homosexual and now hosts “The Don Lemon Show,” responded through Instagram, calling the rapper’s feedback “homophobic” and “unhinged” whereas questioning her citizenship standing and referencing her husband’s prison historical past.
“How dare you? I want that thug in jail!” Minaj wrote in all-caps on Jan. 19 in the identical put up she used the slur. “He would never do that to any other religion. Lock him up!”
In a subsequent post, Minaj acknowledged she “purposely wrote” her preliminary message with the slur.
“They would’ve all collectively ignored the despicable behavior displayed by Lemon head. I’m glad they’re angry. They’re about to get angrier,” she wrote.
Lemon addressed the criticism in an Instagram video posted the identical day, describing Minaj’s posts as “unhinged” and “homophobic.”
“You’re out of your depth,” Lemon mentioned within the video, earlier than questioning Minaj’s citizenship standing. The rapper, who’s initially from Trinidad and Tobago, has reportedly said she is not a U.S. citizen.
Lemon additionally talked about that Minaj’s husband, Kenneth Petty, is a registered Level 2 sex offender.
“You have nerve to talk about me and what you think that I do,” Lemon mentioned. “Nicki Minaj, get a life. Stop being a pick me.”
The disruption at the church adopted the Jan. 7 deadly capturing of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis, an incident that continues to gas native tensions, The New York Times reported.
While the Department of Homeland Security has not confirmed any ties between the church and federal operations, the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division has launched an investigation into the protest for potential violations of the FACE Act, which protects non secular providers from interference, in accordance with NCS.