Minaj vaccine controversy makes it to Trevor Noah show

(Trinidad Guardian) The ongoing furore of United States rapper Nicki Minaj’s claim that a COVID-19 vaccine caused impotence in a Trinidadian man took centre stage on the Daily Show with Trevor Noah last night, featuring CNC3’s Jason Williams and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh.

The popular infotainment show, aired a clip of Williams as he hosted The Morning Brew, commenting on Nicki’s claims. Noah then interviewed Minister Deyalsingh and ended with a glowing tribute to the people of Trinidad and Tobago and the culture of the nation, and gave well wishes to the entire country for having to go through this international controversy.

 

On Monday, Nicki, a native of T&T, tweeted that her cousin’s friend in Trinidad took a COVID-19 vaccine and became impotent after his testicles swelled.

 

“His friend was weeks away from getting married. Now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it and make sure you’re comfortable with your decision, not bullied,” she tweeted.

 

Williams, describing the alleged impotence as a “flat tyre” said there were things the alleged victim could do to treat his condition. However, he said Nicki should not have shared it with the public.

 

“I mean come on, Nicki. You have 180 million followers. People listen to you… I mean, it is irresponsible on all fronts. One, irresponsible based on the misinformation that is going out there regarding this vaccine. You know, there was no verification of this story. And furthermore, to expose your cousin’s friend flat tyre in the public domain like that,” Williams said.

 

Noah described Nicki’s continued rants as the “ongoing saga of Nicki Minaj’s friend cousin swollen testicles”.

 

After playing the clip of Williams, he told his audience that Williams was his “friend’s cousin” and advised that he had called Williams to redo a Cialis advertisement. The drug is used to treat male sexual function problems (impotence or erectile dysfunction-ED).

 

Williams’ voice was then played over a video of the Cialis drug, talking in his usual Trinidadian jargon, advising on its use for “flat tyres” and warning users not to let Minaj know or else she would “put you on blast”.

 

After a short break, Noah returned with an interview with Minister Deyalsingh, in which Deyalsingh spoke of the vaccination drive in T&T and all that the Government and health officials were doing to curb the spread of the virus.

 

Noah mentioned his intention to return to Trinidad and Tobago for Carnival and to eat doubles, saying that he had to fit in a costume to play in “Machel’s band”.

 

At the end of the interview, he paid glowing tribute to the people and culture of Trinidad and Tobago and thanked the nation for the way it was handling the controversy.

 

Noah acknowledged that people make wild claims about the COVID-19 vaccines all the time, but most people did not have millions of followers. He said the tweet has caused a giant uproar, so big that even Dr Anthony Fauci had to give his input.

 

Fauci is the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States of America, Joe Biden. Speaking to CNN, Fauci said there was no evidence that the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson vaccines causes reproductive damage.

 

“There is no evidence that it happens, nor is there any mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen, so the answer to your question is no,” Fauci said.