Cardi B was the most nominated at the 2026 BET Awards with six nods, and she won a major award. The rapper also performed a medley of songs at the award show as well
00:17 ET, 29 Jun 2026Updated 00:17 ET, 29 Jun 2026
Nicki Minaj was not at the 2026 BET Awards where Cardi B won a major award
Cardi B took home a big award at the 2026 BET Awards.
The 33-year-old rapper led the pack the nomination with six nods. Cardi was specifically nominated for Best Female Hip Hop Artist, Video Director of the Year with Patience Foster, Best Collaboration for Errtime Remix featuring Jeezy and Latto, Album of the Year for Am I The Drama, Viewers’ Choice for the track Outside and The Fashion Vanguard Award
Cardi won Best Female Hip Hop Artist at the 2026 BET Awards hosted at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, California on June 28. This was her third time winning the award. During her speech, she gave a shout-out to her children, similarly to how Teyana Taylor did in her speech when she was honored with the Icon of the Year Award.
Cardi’s win and the BET Awards in general had some viewers mentioning Nicki Minaj on social media. She was last nominated in 2024 and at the time she was nominated for six awards, including for Best Female Hip Hop Artist
Nicki has not released any new music out since her last studio album, Pink Friday 2, came out in December 2023. She was originally going to release a new album in March 2026. But announced the project cancelled in October 2025.
Cardi B won the Best Female Hip Hop Artist for the third time(Image: Getty Images)
The controversial artist holds the record for most wins in the Best Female Hip Hop Artist category at the BET Awards with 8 wins.
Lauryn Hill was honored with the Living Legend Icon Award. Lauryn’s recognition marked the debut of the new honor, which BET said was created to celebrate artists who have shaped and preserved cultural legacy through their work.
The show held a tribute performance before which included artist like SZA, Doechii, Nas, Doja Cat, Lizzo, Rapsody, Queen Latifah, Common, YG Marley, Zion Marley, Alexia Jayy, Tierra Whack, and The War and Treaty.
Nicki Minaj’s support for Trump has resulted in controversy and criticism(Image: Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Fans online noted that if things were different, Nicki would have been at show and apart of the tribute.
A person wrote, “In another dimension Nicki Minaj is part of the Lauryn Hill tribute”
A second said, “because Lauryn Hill is Nicki Minaj inspiration, so it would be only right if they had called her but I guess everybody’s mad at her.”
Nicki has great love for Lauryn and has made it clear publicly that the 51-year-old artist is her inspiration. The 43-year-old rapper made her high school yearbook quote a lyric from Lauryn’s 1998 track Forgive Them Father: “To survive is to stay alive in the face of opposition.” When the two met in 2016, Nicki called it an “outer body experience.”
The mother-of-one has been in the center of controversy with her recent embracing of MAGA and expressing support for President Donald Trump. This has led to a rift in her fandom and high-profile figures criticizing the music artist.
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