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Don Lemon
Host, The Don Lemon Show; Political Commentator, The Don Lemon Show

LEMON DROP: Nicki Minaj Goes Full MAGA and Black Women Have Had Enough

📅 Oct 26, 2026 Don Lemon 22 MIN 3394 VIEWS 42 SEGMENTS · 6 SPEAKERS
Nicki Minaj’s embrace of President Trump gets a blunt response from Don, RaeShanda Lias and Jemele Hill. RaeShanda, the award-winning creator behind TikTok’s “Let’s check the board”, is an Army veteran, author and diversity advocate. Jemele, an award-winning journalist and host of Spolitics, knows firsthand the backlash that comes with criticizing Trump: after she called him out in 2017. Together, along with Dr Frita, they all unpack Nicki's political pivot, her comments about transgender kids and the hypocrisy they see in her MAGA alliance. This panel has plenty to say and holds nothing ba...

What Don Lemon said

Written from the verified transcript and checked against it. Every figure links to the moment it was said.

Don Lemon opened by playing clips of Nicki Minaj and Donald Trump, criticizing Trump's objectifying comments about Minaj's body. He then brought guests Jamal Hill and Rashonda Leas to discuss Minaj's support for Trump. Hill called Minaj a 'political prostitute', questioned her citizenship, and noted the irony of her aligning with an anti-black administration after building her career on black and queer communities. Leas echoed this, noting Minaj's past bullying and her alignment with a 'bully'. Lemon then discussed the Michigan Senate race, citing polling averages and prediction markets. He played a clip of Minaj speaking on transgender issues, prompting physician Dr. Freda to debunk Minaj's claims using JAMA study data and CDC statistics, emphasizing that gender-affirming surgery for minors is exceedingly rare. The conversation turned to broader criticisms of MAGA's focus on transgender issues and racism, with Dr. Freda sharing personal anecdotes to counter racist stereotypes.

Key takeaways

  1. Nicki Minaj's support for Trump is embarrassing and she is a 'political prostitute'.
  2. Dr. Freda cited JAMA study: only 85 out of 22.8 million insured children had gender-affirming surgery, 0.000037%.
  3. Rashonda Leas: 'Please let that happen' regarding Minaj possibly being press secretary.
  4. Michigan Senate race: Elsayed leads in polling and prediction markets.
  5. Nicki Minaj doesn't know what she's talking about on transgender issues.

Numbers and commitments

FigureWhat it refers toTypeAt
85 children with gender-affirming surgery in JAMA study metric 13:51
22.8 million insured children in JAMA study metric 13:51
0.000037% percentage of children with gender-affirming surgery metric 13:51
47.9% Elsayed's polling average in Michigan Senate race metric 11:43
46% Mike Rogers' polling average metric 11:43
67% Elsayed's chance of winning per Kalshi metric 11:43
33% Mike Rogers' chance of winning per Kalshi metric 12:31
4 million underinsured children in US according to CDC 2025 metric 14:50
23.7 million underinsured children per CDC data metric 14:50

Chapters

  1. 0:00Nicki Minaj and Trump rally clips
  2. 2:40Criticism of Minaj's Trump support
  3. 3:15Minaj's background and citizenship
  4. 7:37Minaj's appeal to LGBTQ community
  5. 11:43Michigan Senate race polling
  6. 13:11Minaj's trans comments and rebuttal
  7. 16:41MAGA focus on trans and racism
  8. 21:25Personal stories and closing

Questions asked in this interview

6
  1. 7:37The climate that we're in just does not warrant a black woman being put on display like she is siphoned from our culture, right?
  2. 9:18And when he leaves office, what are you going to be left with?
  3. 10:44But also, you know, coming after Senator Kelly when he simply told the troops, you don't have to follow unlawful orders, right?
  4. 13:11Leave them out of it, right?
  5. 15:56Why do you have them on on the show?
  6. 22:06And now that white women are doing it, it's all of a sudden fashionable. You know what I'm saying?
Don Lemon 0:00 ↗
I want to play this. We're going to talk about Elon Musk. We'll talk about that at another time. He's pouring a lot of money in there. But I want to get to the Nicki Minaj of it because this is getting embarrassing. Roll this.
Rashonda Leas 0:08 ↗
We love Trump. We love Trump. We love Trump. We love Michigan. Make some noise.
Don Lemon 0:22 ↗
A woman married to a reported — I don't even know if it's reported, allegedly a registered sex offender — campaigning for a man a jury found liable for sexual abuse. That's what my guests are going to weigh in on right now. Okay, so this is Donald Trump first. That was Nicki Minaj, and this is Donald Trump talking about Nicki's ass. Here it is.
Donald Trump 0:48 ↗
And I didn't like it, but I'm looking at him up and down and I'm studying him, and then I made the mistake.
Don Lemon 0:55 ↗
No, no, Nicki. Oh, I guess this is Nicki.
Donald Trump 0:58 ↗
I said, is this Nicki? I looked at his ass, and I've never done that with a man before. Have a beautiful ass before. Nicki Minaj. That's hard to miss. That stand up. That's hard to miss.
Don Lemon 1:28 ↗
Yeah. Okay, I'm going to get back to my story. I don't get to insult it, but we love Nick. Got it. Okay, so look at that. Is an 80 — well, how old is this man? 83. An 80-year-old man standing behind a presidential seal in front of a MAGA crowd sexually objectifying a black woman and telling her stand so everybody else can look at her ass, and then they cheered.
I don't think that was a compliment, reducing a black woman's body, but maybe she deserves it because she put herself out there. Remember she had the whole thing grabbing by the pee and all of that. He called Omarosa Manigault a dog. Maxine Waters low IQ. The whole nine yards.
So I want to bring in my guest now to discuss this. Jamal Hill is here. Jamal is a guest of the — a friend of the show. I also want to bring in Rashonda Leas. Rashan, am I pronouncing your name right? I'm sorry. Leas. I love your content. It is amazing, and I love when you stand in front of the board. And then in a moment, I'm going to bring in Dr. Freda, but stand by. When you guys saw that, what is going on with Nicki Minaj? Who wants to weigh in first, Rashonda or Janelle?
Jamal Hill 2:40 ↗
Go ahead. And it's so good to see you, Rashonda. It's so good to see you, sis.
So Nicki Minaj is a political prostitute. And the reality is that she — I find it so ironic that they have her at this rally because is Nicki Minaj even an American citizen? Is she even able to vote? And I don't think she is. I know she's a legal green card holder at least, and that her paperwork was being finalized. And one of these days somebody's going to do the documentary about the rapper-to-Trump-supporter pipeline because it is embarrassing.
I know Chuck D — he's alive, but just to use the phrase — Chuck D is rolling in his grave. Public Enemy, all those groups in which hip hop was built on this idea of revolution, of challenging the system. And now you see people like Nicki Minaj, who made an awful lot of money in hip hop, aligning themselves comfortably with white supremacy.
And to me, the one thing that's really interesting about the Trump campaign whenever they summon a black entertainer is nobody that we fool with like that anyway. We been dropped Nicki Minaj. If you're going to try to get somebody that's going to cause us a little bit of internal struggle, trust me, it's not Nicki Minaj. We dropped her a while ago. Not just because of her association with Trump. It was because of her husband and the way they publicly tried to completely destroy the reputation of his victim. There's a lot of ugliness in this woman, period, that we peeped a long time ago. So a lot of us have stopped messing with her overall. But, you know, to me, it's shameful.
And these are the moments in history that these people do not realize that when they're doing documentaries about Donald Trump being the most corrupt president in American history, about his willful and purposeful intention of what he has done in terms of dividing people in this country, they're going to be very embarrassed that they stood at podiums, that they went to dinners, and that they normalized some — and that's how I look at all of this.
Don Lemon 4:46 ↗
Randa, why is she doing this?
Rashonda Leas 4:48 ↗
Well, you know, I have no clue, right? We're trying to get Miss — It's really very simple. It's on your shirt. My focus was on something else a long time ago. Just as J said, I had let that go a long time ago, right? My playlist is in disarray. Like we have been dropping people for a while. Y'all know everything we turn always like, 'Man, we can't play.' Well, so right now I think it's grasping for straws, right?
I get a lot of people. Last night I did a video that, of course, it upset the Barbz. I have never said anything about any of the foolishness that she has done. She has always been a bully. Now she has aligned herself with a bully, right? She has been an apologist for a pedo. Now she has aligned herself with another one. So I don't know what she's looking for. I'm confused as to why they were even jokingly floating the idea of her possibly being the press secretary. Right. Nothing is out of — First of all, we're — Please let that happen. Please let that happen.
We are in the most horribly casted episode of Black Mirror I've ever witnessed before in my life. Like, I want out of here. Ever since we left high school, Don and J. Ever since we left high school where we were separated from people, I know who would be in my AP class and who wasn't. I know who going to be. I know. You know what I'm saying? And now we're all here together, and then they all have access to the internet. So it is insane that we have to witness this. The Sarah Bartman of it all — of her standing up to just show her ass for those buffoons, and then they were clapping.
I don't know if you know our history, that you know we actually used to be in zoos that people would pay to come see. Like I have had run-ins with people in elevators in the most swankiest hotels that will reach out to try to touch my — this is not a petting service. And I think that it is so sad to see, but we knew where this was coming, especially dealing with that walking bag of overinflated piss of a president. I cannot — I don't know where we are, y'all.
Jamal Hill 7:11 ↗
Well, I say this often about all the things that we're seeing. This would be hilarious if we didn't actually live here. Yes. This would be the funniest episode, as you said, of Black Mirror or the funniest episode of VEP. Like, it would be hysterical. But unfortunately, that person sitting up there fawning over Nicki Minaj's ass is actually in charge of governing us. And oh, go ahead, Randa.
Rashonda Leas 7:37 ↗
I was going to say, and a lot of people in my comment section, because you know they came hard for me. I ain't never said nothing about this lady. Now all of a sudden I'm jealous. I don't know if what — but I'm supposed to be jealous also. Well, it was okay when Megan was twerking. It was okay when Cardi B was at the podium or Beyonce. All of those people are U.S. citizens. All of those people can vote, and none of them were on Air Force One or floating the idea of being the press secretary. Megan has degrees. I'm so confused as to why when we say something about her, especially now, right? The climate that we're in just does not warrant a black woman being put on display like she is siphoned from our culture, right? She came over here. She was not born over here. She made money off the LGBTQIA community and then tossed them aside by saying, you know, we don't want sex change operations for our children in school. Who's doing — We're gonna talk about that. Rachel afford pencils.
Don Lemon 8:42 ↗
I'm glad you brought that up. But also, is she a culture vulture?

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APA

Lemon, D. (2026, October 26). LEMON DROP: Nicki Minaj Goes Full MAGA and Black Women Have Had Enough [Interview transcript]. Don Lemon. CEOInterviews.AI. https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3139182/

MLA

Don Lemon. "LEMON DROP: Nicki Minaj Goes Full MAGA and Black Women Have Had Enough." Don Lemon, 26 Oct. 2026. Transcript, CEOInterviews.AI, https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3139182/.

BibTeX
@misc{lemon2026_3139182,
  author       = {Don Lemon},
  title        = {LEMON DROP: Nicki Minaj Goes Full MAGA and Black Women Have Had Enough},
  howpublished = {Interview transcript, Don Lemon. CEOInterviews.AI},
  year         = {2026},
  month        = {oct},
  url          = {https://ceointerviews.ai/interview/3139182/},
  note         = {Speaker-attributed transcript with timestamps}
}