Trinidadian testicles were the hot topic across American late-night talk shows on Tuesday night thanks to Trinidad-born rapper Nicki Minaj.
From Trevor Noah to Stephen Colbert, talk show hosts had a field day with Minaj’s tweet about alleged impotence suffered by her cousin’s friend due to the COVID-19 vaccine.
On Sunday, after tweeting that she wouldn’t attend the Met Gala due to the vaccination policy, Minaj gave an anecdote about her cousin’s friend in Trinidad who suffered impotence and subsequently could not get married as a result.
“She tweeted: “My cousin in Trinidad won’t get the vaccine cuz his friend got it & became impotent. His testicles became swollen. His friend was weeks away from getting married, now the girl called off the wedding. So just pray on it & make sure you’re comfortable with ur decision, not bullied.”
Speaking on the Daily Show, host Trevor Noah joked that he wasn’t sure the marriage would ever work out despite the vows.
“Clearly this woman in Trinidad was like I was there for richer and poorer, in sickness and in health but you never said anything about swollen testicles,” he said in a mock Trini accent.
“This poor guy, minding his business with his swollen testicles in Trinidad but because his best friend happens to be cousins with Nicki Minaj now the whole world knows he is impotent, he got dumped and he got giant testicles. He must be so mad with his friend,” he continued.
Noah acknowledged that Minaj did say she wants to do her research before getting the vaccine but joked that nobody is doing actual research.
“Can we all stop saying I want to do my research? Nobody saying that is getting in a lab and doing research. At best you are reading other people’s research and more likely you are reading a tweet about a headline about a blog post about someone else’s research,” he said
“The problem is for Nicki Minaj’s millions of followers that tweet about swollen balls will be their research,” he added.
Stephen Colbert, speaking on the Late Night Show, joked that swollen testicles are the reason he got his shot in the shoulder.
He poked fun at the source of Minaj's hesitancy.
“Doctors agree that the COVID vaccines do not cause swollen testicles but to be fair to Dr Minaj, everyone knows there is no source more reliable than your extended family’s acquaintances in another country. Her source comes straight from the New England Journal of My Cousin’s Friend in Trinidad,” he said showing a copy of the fake book.
On his show, Jimmy Kimmel Live, host Kimmel reasoned that the swelling of Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s balls after he got the vaccine doesn’t mean that was the cause.
“If you get the vaccine and fall in a manhole that doesn’t mean Moderna causes manhole accidents. But when two things happen close together we tend to see them as connected and for this friend of Nicki’s cousin’s I hate to say it if your testicles swell up that big, the question isn’t did you get a vaccine recently it is what have you been doing to your balls?” he asked.
Kimmel said if anyone could track him down he would love to talk to him. Minaj replied on Twitter that he is willing to talk for a price.
Fox News talk show host Tucker Carlson also put out a call to speak to the anonymous victim stating that they would be happy to come to Port-of-Spain to speak with him.
Carlson, a well-known conservative, supported Minaj’s right to air her views on the vaccine.
Dr Anthony Fauci, however, has assured that there is no evidence that there is any truth to Minaj’s claims.
When asked on CNN if Pfizer, Moderna or the J&J vaccines can cause impotence, Fauci said a resounding no.
He said: “There is no evidence that it happens or any mechanistic reason that it would happen.”