These US stars remain loyal to Donald Trump

Hollywood also seems to have woken up from its state of shock. In recent days, numerous stars have publicly taken a position against Trump and the ICE authorities, on social media as well as at the Sundance Film Festival.

But now Trump has achieved a coup: Nicki Minaj, one of the most successful rappers in the world, has traveled to Washington, DC to take part in a presidential event and is demonstratively loyal to him.

“I would say that I’m probably the president’s biggest fan, and that’s not going to change,” said Minaj, who appeared at the podium holding hands with Trump. “And the hate or what people say doesn’t affect me at all. In fact, it motivates me to support him even more.” The 43-year-old called Trump a “wonderful, kind, charming president.”

In 2018 it sounded completely different. At the time, the artist, who was born in Trinidad and Tobago, criticized Trump’s migration policy. On Instagram she described how she came to the USA as an illegal immigrant when she was five years old. “I can’t imagine how horrible it must be to be in a strange place and to be separated from my parents at the age of five. It scares me so much,” Nicki Minaj continued. “Please stop this.”

The rapper has apparently undergone a radical change of heart – and is not alone. Numerous stars in hip-hop in particular have turned to Trump. Kanye West was one of the first celebrity supporters in 2018, and Snoop Dogg and Nelly appeared at Trump’s second inauguration. Lil Wayne and Kodak Black also support the president. Both were charged with weapons offenses and were pardoned by Trump at the end of his first term.

Pardons of rappers as a transaction

The rappers’ pardons are a good deal for Trump, as they open doors for him into subcultures that were previously closed to him. For example, those of the young, predominantly African-American fans of NBA YoungBoy, a 26-year-old underground star who recently completed a tour with sales of $70 million. It was made possible because Trump gave him a two-year prison sentence. The rapper expressed his gratitude by naming his album and tour “MASA” – “Make America Slime Again.”

For many young rappers, supporting Trump now seems like a kind of punk pose – against the establishment, against the expectations of an older generation of rappers.

For Nicki Minaj, the political change took place over years. During the pandemic, she was critical of vaccinations and later shared transphobic posts from the Trump administration on X.

On December 22, Minaj appeared at an event hosted by the right-wing populist organization Turning Point USA alongside Erika Kirk, the widow of slain podcaster Charlie Kirk. There she reiterated her conservative and transphobic positions.

“I have the utmost respect and admiration for our president,” she said on stage. “I don’t know if he even knows this, but he has given so many people hope that there is a chance to defeat the bad guys and win, and do it with your head held high and your integrity intact.”

It is still unusual for a star to speak out for Trump as openly as Nicki Minaj. But since Trump’s re-election, a cultural change has also taken place in the USA: being conservative or even right-wing is no longer such a taboo, even in the world of celebrities.

A conservative turn in pop

This doesn’t just apply to the country scene, which is traditionally rather conservative. Country stars are very quiet at the moment, and hardly anyone is commenting on the behavior of ICE agents in Minneapolis and other cities. One exception is Zach Bryan, who released a song at the beginning of January in which he criticized ICE – and not only sparked enthusiasm, but also angered many country fans.

There is also a conservative turn in pop. Religious songs were among the biggest hits of the year in the USA, especially Alex Warren’s “Ordinary”, a love song that can also be interpreted as a Christian hymn and which occupied number one on the US charts for months.

Former No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani, now married to country star Blake Shelton, praises right-wing podcaster Tucker Carlson and promotes the Christian prayer app Hallow, which critics have called an “anti-abortion app.”

In traditionally liberal Hollywood, older male actors have mostly been the ones whose conservative views made them outsiders – such as the men Trump once wanted to appoint as “special ambassadors for Hollywood”: Mel Gibson, Sylvester Stallone, Jon Voight.

But with Sydney Sweeney, a young, hip, female face joined last year. Sweeney, who rose to fame with “Euphoria,” is one of the most sought-after actresses of her generation and a registered Republican. She gained attention last year with a jeans ad that emphasized her “good genes” and which Trump praised as the “HOTTEST ad” on his social media platform.

Sweeney doesn’t want to be stylized as a conservative figurehead, but he also avoids clear distancing. She told Cosmopolitan magazine on Thursday in response to a question about her description as “MAGA Barbie” that she didn’t want to talk about politics and that a lot of it was projected onto her person. She did not speak out against MAGA, Trump or ICE in the interview.

The brutal actions of the ICE agents in Minneapolis initially put a damper on the project of making conservatism socially acceptable in pop culture and made dissenting voices louder again. But Nicki Minaj shows that the stars who stand behind Donald Trump still exist. And there tends to be more.