The Tale of the Testicles Continues: Trinidad and Tobago’s Health Minister Refutes Nicki Minaj’s COVID Vaccine Claims

Professional attention-getter Nicki Minaj once again got what she came for on Monday when she attempted to explain her absence from the Met Gala by casting doubt on the COVID vaccinations required to attend the event. As The Root reported Tuesday, as part of her excuse, the “Anaconda” rapper claimed her cousin in Trinidad knew someone who became impotent as a result of being vaccinated. “His testicles became swollen,” she tweeted, claiming that the man’s fiancée called off their upcoming wedding as a result.

(I mean, that’s also a symptom of undiagnosed chlamydia, gonorrhea, testicular cancer and congestive heart failure—and it sounds like homegirl just wasn’t that into him—but go awf, I guess.)

At any rate, Minaj’s claim not only put Twitter in a tizzy but also put the health department of Trinidad and Tobago on the case, as they sought to confirm her claims. After scouring the islands and finding no reported cases of swollen testicles—at least, not as a side effect of the vaccine—the country’s Minister of Health was forced to hold a press conference refuting Minaj’s misinformation, basically telling her to “grab deez” for wasting everyone’s time. (OK, he didn’t say “grab deez,” but he did indirectly scold her for expending government time and resources on her mess.)

“One of the reasons we could not respond yesterday in real time to Ms. Minaj is that we had to check and make sure that what she was claiming was either true or false,” explained Trinidad & Tobago Health Minister Dr. Terrence Deyalsingh. Yes, Deyalsingh (presumably pronounced “dey all sing”) is his real name, yes, he really is the health minister of Trinidad and Tobago, and yes, even he seemingly had trouble getting through this absolutely absurd discussion without laughing.

“Unfortunately, we wasted so much time yesterday running down this false claim,” he continued, “and as far as we know, at this point in time, there has been no such reported either side effect or adverse event. And what was sad about this is that it wasted our time yesterday, trying to track down [the claim]—because we take all these claims seriously, whether it’s on social media or mainstream media.

“As we stand now, there is absolutely no reported such side effect or adverse event of testicular swelling in Trinidad or *consulting with another doctor at the press conference*…none that we know of anywhere else in the world,” he concluded.

So, there you have it. Nicki Minaj is grossly misinformed (or just lying), the COVID vaccine will not give you scrotal elephantiasis, and should you be experiencing any swelling in your undercarriage, please consult a doctor, because it’s likely something else that is possibly communicable.

Speaking of communicable, if you haven’t already, please go get vaxxed so we can all start enjoying things again.