Trinidad says Nicki Minaj’s swollen testicle claim is wrong and wasted officials’ time
Trinidad and Tobago’s health minister is less than impressed with Nicki Minaj.
The singer and rapper grabbed the world’s attention this week after claiming her cousin’s friend on the island suffered swollen testicles after taking the Covid vaccine.
She said he was weeks away from getting married and had to call off the wedding and also claimed he had become impotent.
A long list of politicians and health experts were quick to criticise her tweet, including England’s Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty, who said she should be ‘ashamed’.
Joining the queue is Trinidad’s Terrence Deyalsingh, who said the Caribbean country has found no evidence of a patient with such side effects.
At a press conference, the health minister said officials have ‘wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim’.
He added: ‘As we stand now, there is absolutely no reported side effect or adverse event of testicular swelling in Trinidad… and none that we know of anywhere in the world.’
Deyalsingh said officials ‘take all these claims seriously’ but ‘unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim’.
On Monday Minaj tweeted: ‘My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent.
‘His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding.
‘So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.’
After Professor Whitty called her claims ‘clearly ridiculous’ and ‘designed just to scare’, the entertainer replied on Twitter, saying: ‘I love him even tho I guess this was a diss? The accent ugh! Yassss boo!!!’
She also responded to Boris Johnson with a bizarre voice note in which she put on a British accent and claimed to have gone to school with Margaret Thatcher.
Minaj, 38, who was born in Trinidad, has now been offered a phonecall with White House doctors to answer questions about the safety and efficacy of the vaccine.
She has not actually been invited to the Presidential home itself, but that didn’t stop her tweeting: ‘The White House has invited me & I think it’s a step in the right direction.
‘Yes, I’m going. I’ll be dressed in all pink like Legally Blonde so they know I mean business.
‘I’ll ask questions on behalf of the ppl who have been made fun of for simply being human. #BallGate day 3.’
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top Covid advisor in the US, told CNN Minaj ‘should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis’.
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