Nicki Minaj Doubles Down on Slur Against Don Lemon Amid His Arrest

Nicki Minaj is standing by her controversial remarks about journalist Don Lemon, repeating a homophobic slur in a newly released podcast clip that surfaced around the same time news broke of Lemon’s arrest.

In a preview from The Katie Miller Podcast, released days after the interview was recorded, Minaj was asked to respond to comments Lemon made about her on TMZ Live, where he described her as “racist, unhinged, homophobic, and out of [her] depth.” Minaj responded with a slur directed at Lemon, prompting laughter from host Katie Miller before the clip ended.

The tension between Minaj and Lemon began earlier this month after Lemon live-streamed a protest at Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota. Demonstrators disrupted a church service to protest Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The church’s pastor, who is reportedly an ICE official in Minneapolis, was not present during the protest.

After the livestream aired, Minaj criticized Lemon in a social media post, using explicit language to condemn both him and the protest.

The resurfacing of the podcast clip drew added attention because it was posted the same morning news broke that Lemon had been arrested. According to The New York Times, Lemon was arrested on federal charges related to allegedly impeding people’s right to worship while working as a journalist at the protest. At the time of the arrest, Lemon was in Los Angeles covering events connected to the Grammy Awards.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed the arrest in a statement, saying federal agents had taken Lemon and three others into custody “in connection with the coordinated attack on Cities Church in St. Paul, Minnesota.”

Lemon’s attorney, Abbe Lowell, strongly criticized the arrest, arguing that the Trump administration should focus instead on investigating the recent deaths of two U.S. citizens in Minnesota. He accused the government of targeting Lemon for his journalism.

Katie Miller, the podcast host who shared the clip, has close ties to the Trump administration. She previously served as an advisor to Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency and is married to Stephen Miller, the White House Deputy Chief of Staff.

Neither Minaj nor Lemon has issued a new statement beyond what was shared in the podcast clip and legal filings.