Don Lemon, Nicki Minaj Swap Insults on X After Anti-ICE Protest

[ad_1] by Jeroslyn JoVonn January 20, 2026

She referred to as for the journalist's arrest for reporting from an anti‑ICE protest at a Minnesota church.

Don Lemon and Nicki Minaj exchanged phrases o after the rapper referred to as for Lemon to be jailed over his presence at an anti-ICE protest at a Minnesota church.

The previous CNN host was referred to as out on Jan. 19 after Minaj took to X to harshly criticize Lemon over his protection of an anti-ICE protest that disrupted a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota.

“DON ‘C* S*** LEMON IS DISGUSTING. HOW DARE YOU? I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION. LOCK HIM UP!!!!!” Minaj wrote.

Lemon, who says he attended the occasion solely to doc it for his impartial YouTube channel, responded by calling Minaj a “homophobic bigot” and noting her beginning in Trinidad and Tobago, calling her an “undocumented citizen.”

“Nicki Minaj, cease speaking about s*** for which you recognize nothing about. That is out of your depth. You're a homophobic bigot. You don’t care about African Individuals, and also you’re not an African American. From what I do know, you might be reportedly an undocumented citizen so you ought to be deported below Donald Trump’s guidelines.”

Don Lemon: “Nicki Minaj, cease speaking about shit for which you recognize nothing about. That is out of your depth. You're a homophobic bigot. You don’t care about African Individuals and also you’re not an African American. From what I do know, you might be reportedly an undocumented citizen so that you… pic.twitter.com/wMaXGxYzrx

— Marco Foster (@MarcoFoster_) January 19, 2026

Lemon additionally referenced the prison histories of Minaj’s husband, a registered intercourse offender, and her brother, Jelani Maraj, who was sentenced to 25 years in jail for sexually abusing his stepdaughter, and accused the rapper of aligning herself with the Republican Get together.

“Nicki Minaj, get a life. Cease being a ‘decide me.’ You must have put a pick-me doll on that rattling tweet as an alternative of a Chucky doll, since you are nothing however a pick-me. And I decide. I select to not decide you. And so ought to Black folks, and so ought to homosexual folks. [They] shouldn’t purchase your music. Clock that,” he mentioned.

Minaj later returned to X, saying she had made her put up about Lemon intentionally abrasive, explaining it was the one option to get consideration from sure customers.

“And I purposely wrote it that approach b/c I knew that might be the one option to get the c* s*** to put up about it,” she wrote. “They'd’ve all collectively ignored the despicable conduct displayed by Lemon head. I’m glad they’re offended. They’re about to get angrier.”

The controversy started after anti‑ICE protesters disrupted providers at Cities Church in St. Paul on Jan. 18, accusing one of many church’s pastors of additionally serving because the appearing discipline director for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement within the area. Demonstrators, organized by Black Lives Matter Minnesota, chanted “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good”—referencing the Minnesota lady just lately killed by an ICE agent.

BREAKING NEWS 💥 MINNEAPOLIS

ICE protesters disrupt a Sunday service at Cities Church.

Protesters are upset as a result of the pastor there may be allegedly the director of the ICE discipline workplace in Saint Paul, MN

This can be a creating story pic.twitter.com/dc7gO4AEPK

— Erik Bryant (@Trumpwon) January 18, 2026

Lemon insists he was masking the protest as a journalist and had no prior data that the group would goal the church, telling viewers in an Instagram video, “I've no affiliation with that group. I didn’t even know they had been going to this church till we adopted them there.”

He launched a press release to Fox Information Digital, denouncing the criticism and standing by his journalism.

“It’s notable that I’ve been solid because the face of a protest I used to be masking as a journalist—particularly since I wasn’t the one reporter there,” he mentioned. “That framing is telling…If this a lot time and power goes to be spent manufacturing outrage, it will be much better used investigating the tragic demise of Renee Nicole Good—the very concern that introduced folks into the streets within the first place. I stand by my reporting.”