'Racism and Misogyny': Viewers Blast Trump Over 'Vicious' Nicki Minaj Twerking Shooting Joke at WHCA

Donald Trump sparked a fresh wave of outrage in Washington on Friday night as he used his rescheduled White House Correspondents' Association dinner speech at the Waldorf Astoria to crack a joke about Nicki Minaj twerking in response to gunfire at the previous event.

For context, the black-tie dinner was being held nearly three months after the original WHCA gala was cut short by an alleged assassination attempt on the 80-year-old president. Federal prosecutors say a man opened fire near the earlier event, sending guests scrambling for cover and forcing organisers to abandon the traditional comedy set in favour of an emergency lockdown and evacuation.

On Friday, Trump chose to revisit that moment from the podium. According to the remarks delivered in the room, he told guests that when shots rang out at the previous dinner, 'many people yelled 'Get down, get down,' which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking. Get down, she's the only one who really understood it.'

The line landed with a mix of laughter, groans and a visible wince or two from the press tables, according to attendees. Online, the reaction was far less forgiving.

Viewers Call Trump's Nicki Minaj Joke 'Racism and Misogyny'

The news came after weeks of build‑up around Trump's return to the WHCA stage. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt had previewed Trump's appearance as a 'unifying yet vicious' speech. If that was the aim, the twerking remark became one of the most widely discussed lines from the speech.

On X, users accused Trump of using the near-fatal shooting as set‑up material and of reducing Minaj, one of his most prominent celebrity supporters, to a punchline about her body.

'Racism, misogyny and jokes about shootings all rolled up in one crass comment,' one viewer wrote, summing up the mood among critics who saw the gag as a dig not just at Minaj but at Black women more broadly.

Another user called it 'a wild way to bring Nicki Minaj into the conversation,' questioning why the president had turned back to a moment when staff and attendees genuinely feared for their lives.

Not everyone on social media was appalled. One supporter praised Trump's stagecraft, posting, 'Trump's timing is undefeated. Whether you laughed or groaned, that joke had the whole room reacting.' Others leaned into the absurdity. 'HELP NOT NICKI WAS GETTING LOW ON THA FLOOR CHILE,' another user wrote, in a post that ricocheted around stan accounts almost as quickly as the original line.

Nicki Minaj, MAGA and a Very Public Alliance

Minaj has become one of Trump's most visible celebrity supporters, appearing alongside him at political and White House events. The rapper, 43, has publicly described herself as Trump's 'number one fan' and has become a regular presence at his orbit of events.

She has appeared at Turning Point USA's AmericaFest, attended a White House Rose Garden luncheon and joined the 'Trump Accounts' Summit, part of a broader effort to court young and non‑traditional voters through influencer‑style outreach.

Minaj has also backed Trump‑linked financial ventures, promoting so‑called Trump Accounts to her fanbase and pledging between $150,000 and $300,000 to fund accounts for fans. That has made her one of the few major pop culture figures visibly invested, both politically and financially, in Trump's return to power.

Some critics argued that the joke was demeaning despite Minaj's public support for Trump. Supporters counter that Minaj has gleefully embraced sexual humour and twerking throughout her career, arguing that the president was riffing off her own persona.

Minaj had not publicly responded at the time of publication.

A 'More Intimate' WHCA Dinner Under a Shadow of Violence

The latest dinner was always going to feel different. Held at the Waldorf Astoria in Washington DC, it brought together Trump and much of his Cabinet, though several top figures stayed away. First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio were all absent.

A White House spokesperson said Melania Trump's decision not to attend was due to prior commitments, offering no further detail. The rescheduled event had a smaller guest list and heightened security.

Weijia Jiang, president of the White House Correspondents' Association, had pitched the rescheduled event as both smaller and more purposeful. She described it as a 'more intimate gathering' and, in a statement ahead of the dinner, framed the night as a defiant response to the April attack.

'This dinner will not only be an opportunity to carry out our programme. It will be a statement that violence has no place in American life and a free press will not be intimidated into silence,' Jiang said, adding that 'courage and community can and should rise above.'

Trump's decision to joke about the attack contrasted with the event's stated emphasis on resilience following political violence.

Shooting Suspect Faces Life Sentence if Convicted

The man accused of opening fire during the first WHCA dinner has been named by authorities as Cole Tomas Allen. Court records show he has pleaded not guilty to multiple federal charges, including attempted assassination of the president, assaulting a federal law enforcement officer and several firearms offences.

If convicted on the most serious counts, Allen could face life in prison. The case is moving through the federal courts, and for obvious reasons prosecutors are saying little in public beyond the bare bones of the indictment.

In the room on Friday, that unresolved violence hung in the air even as waiters cleared dessert plates and the president leaned into his punchlines. Trump's defenders will say humour is how he processes threat, that this is just Trump being Trump. His critics see something more troubling in the way racism, misogyny and gunfire can all be turned into material for a single, throwaway gag.

Whether the Nicki Minaj joke is remembered as another passing controversy or a line that crystallised the mood of this White House, nobody at the Waldorf could pretend they had not heard it.