Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend and his ‘swollen testicles’ becomes surprise breakout star of the Met Gala

Nicki’s cousin’s poor friend went viral (Picture: Matt Winkelmeyer/MG18/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

When the Met Gala kicked off on Monday night, we were’t expecting one of the breakout stars of the night to be Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s impotent friend.

But life is full of surprises.

Nicki went viral last night after claiming that one of her cousin’s friends in Trinidad was ditched by his wife after his testicles became swollen as an apparent side-effect of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The rapper shared the wild allegation while explaining that she was not attending the Met Gala as the exclusive event required attendees to be vaccinated.

The 38-year-old tweeted: ‘They want you to get vaccinated for the Met. if I get vaccinated it won’t for the Met. It’ll be once I feel I’ve done enough research. I’m working on that now. In the meantime my loves, be safe. Wear the mask with 2 strings that grips your head & face. Not that loose one.’

She continued: ‘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.’

The swollen testicles post became a tweet for the ages, racking up over 14,000 retweets and 71,000 quote tweets as people made memes out of Nicki’s cousin’s poor friend with the swollen testicles and the lost wedding deposit.

Others pointed out that swelling in the testicles could possibly come down to an injury (in this case, it would be called hydrocele), or an STD like chlamydia, which can sometimes cause swelling of the scrotum.

A doctor has debunked Nicki’s tweet, confirming that impotency and infertility in either males or females are not associated with the Covid-19 vaccine.

However, scrotal discomfort and testicular pain have been cited as symptoms in some cases of Covid-19 – so this symptom is more linked to the virus than the vaccine.

Public health expert Dr Leana Wen told People: ‘In fact, we know that there are actually consequences, if somebody gets COVID-19, in terms of the impact on the male reproductive system. There have been studies that have linked scrotal discomfort and low sperm count to having COVID-19. In addition, there has been an association between scrotal swelling and congestion to having COVID-19. So, to emphasise, these are not associated with the vaccine but with the disease.’

Nicki said she would not be going to the Met Gala because they required vaccination (Picture: Theo Wargo/WireImage)

Despite the inaccuracy of Nicki’s tweet, a Twitter spokesperson said that the post did not break the platform’s rules on misinformation.

The Pound The Alarm rapper received a lot of backlash for saying she would not be vaccinated for the Met, but insisted that she would likely end up getting the jab so she could go on tour.

She tweeted: ‘A lot of countries won’t let ppl work w/o the vaccine. I’d def recommend they get the vaccine. They have to feed their families. I’m sure I’ll b vaccinated as well cuz I have to go on tour, etc.’

While celebrities were permitted to pose for the cameras without face masks at the Met Gala in New York, they had to wear masks inside when not eating or drinking.

More: Covid vaccine

It was the first Met Gala event since 2019, after last year’s fundraiser was cancelled due to the pandemic.

Fashion highlights from the night – with the theme In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion – included Iman, Jennifer Lopez, Dan Levy, Rihanna and Kim Kardashian, who took the face mask rule a little more literally than most.

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