While on stage, Cedric the Entertainer joked about being vaccinated and included the name of a certain someone who has made her stance on vaccines clear. “I got vaxxed. I did not have a reaction like Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend,” he reportedly joked to the audience. The diss came after Minaj revealed that she would not be in attendance of the 2021 Met Gala due to the vaccination requirement.
“If I get vaccinated it won’t [be] for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now,” she tweeted on September 13. Minaj then went on to say that her cousin’s friend in Trinidad was vaccinated and had a negative reaction to the vaccine, causing his testicles to swell and consequently ruining his wedding.
After her tweet, many were concerned that Minaj could have raised doubts about vaccines among her fanbase. “She should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis except a one-off anecdote, and that’s not what science is all about,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said to CNN in response to Minaj’s rant (via Page Six). The vaccine is not 100% effective at preventing infection, but theCDCnotes that the vaccine does prevent serious symptoms of coronavirus. Cedric, the Entertainer seemed to be trying to lighten Minaj’s misinformation by adding humor at this year’s Emmys.