{"id":255350,"date":"2026-01-21T02:14:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:14:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/255350\/"},"modified":"2026-01-21T02:14:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T02:14:07","slug":"don-lemon-claps-back-at-pick-me-rap-divas-vulgar-attack-over-ice-church-protest-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/255350\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Lemon Claps Back At \u2018Pick Me\u2019 Rap Diva\u2019s Vulgar Attack Over ICE Church Protest Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former CNN host Don Lemon <\/a>dug into MAGA ally Nicki Minaj<\/a>\u00a0after she attacked him over his coverage of an anti-ICE protest at a church<\/a> in Minnesota,\u00a0amplifying right-wing calls for his arrest.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so glad that I had never been a Nicki Minaj fan. I don\u2019t know her music,\u201d Lemon told left-leaning podcaster Jennifer Welch Monday. \u201cThere is nothing on my playlist that\u2019s ever Nicki Minaj and there isn\u2019t going to be because she is an ignorant \u2018pick me,\u2019<\/a> and I choose not to pick her.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon put Lemon \u201con notice\u201d in a post announcing that the DOJ will pursue charges against anti-ICE protesters who disrupted a service Sunday at Cities Church in St. Paul, over speculation that a pastor at the church has connections to ICE.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dhillon accused Lemon,\u00a0who had reported on the protest, of \u201cbeing a part, an embedded part, of a criminal conspiracy,\u201d in an interview with right-wing influencer Benny Johnson<\/a> Monday, threatening to invoke the Enforcement Act<\/a> of 1871, also known as the Ku Klux Klan Act, to charge the journalist.<\/p>\n

The law prohibits groups of people from gathering with the intention of violating citizens\u2019 constitutional rights. Lemon disputed Dhillon\u2019s accusations on Welch\u2019s show. <\/p>\n

\u201cNone of what she says there applies to me,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s no evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

News: Volatility Gauges Jump As Tariff Threats Spook Investors<\/a><\/p>\n

Lemon\u2019s reporting garnered backlash from the right,\u00a0including a \u201cbarrage of violent threats, along with homophobic and racist slurs,\u201dhe told NBC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Among his attackers is Minaj,\u00a0who in recent weeks has lost some fans<\/a>\u00a0over her outspoken alignment with President Donald Trump <\/a>and his MAGA base.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDON \u2018**** SUCKIN\u2019 LEMON IS DISGUSTING,\u201d the rapper wrote in an all-caps X post on Monday that included an image of a Chucky doll<\/a>. \u201cHOW DARE YOU? I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION. LOCK HIM UP!!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not surprised Nicki Minaj does not understand journalism and is weighing in on matters that are above her capacity,\u201d Lemon fired back in a statement to TMZ<\/a>. \u201cHowever, the more appropriate image for her post is a \u2018Pick Me\u2019 Doll.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also released his own video in response to the artist, telling her to \u201cstop talking about **** for which you know nothing about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is out of your depth, by the way, and you are a homophobic bigot,\u201d Lemon said.<\/p>\n

In his interview with Welch, the journalist called Minaj a \u201cgrifter,\u201d\u00a0citing her recent cozying up to Erika Kirk<\/a>, whose late husband, Charlie Kirk, made several<\/a>controversial<\/a>remarks<\/a> about Black people before his killing.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe talked **** about Black people a lot,\u201d Lemon said. \u201cHe said racist, bigoted things a lot, and she\u2019s cozying up to his wife and to his organization and to all of the other bigots in the MAGA movement, and now she is calling a gay man a **** sucker. That\u2019s homophobia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read: Nicki Minaj Is Not Going To Win This Weird Online Beef With Gavin Newsom<\/a><\/p>\n

Minaj defended her use of the derogatory term in a follow-up post, telling followers, \u201cI\u2019m glad they\u2019re angry. They\u2019re about to get angrier.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lemon told Welch, \u201cNicki Minaj doesn\u2019t care about Black people.\u00a0d She doesn\u2019t care about gay people. Those are two of her biggest supporters and the people who make her rich and … as a Black and gay person, I\u2019m not supporting her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related…<\/p>\n

Read the original on HuffPost<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former CNN host Don Lemon dug into MAGA ally Nicki Minaj\u00a0after she attacked him over his coverage of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255351,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[9652,321,127314,127316,93,127318,61,60,127315,127317,24453],"class_list":{"0":"post-255350","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-benny-johnson","9":"tag-celebrities","10":"tag-don-lemon","11":"tag-enforcement-act","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-harmeet-dhillon","14":"tag-ie","15":"tag-ireland","16":"tag-jennifer-welch","17":"tag-ku-klux-klan-act","18":"tag-nicki-minaj"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255350\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}