Donald Trump leaves White House Correspondents' Dinner stunned with unexpected Nicki Minaj joke

Donald Trump sparked laughs and backlash after making an unexpected Nicki Minaj joke at the White House dinner

President Donald Trump had the audience talking after unexpectedly mentioning rapper Nicki Minaj during his speech at the rescheduled White House Correspondents' Dinner on Friday.

Reflecting on the alleged assassination attempt that disrupted the original event earlier this year, Trump recalled people shouting, "Get down, get down," before joking that Minaj "started twerking" because she was the only one who "really understood it."

"After hearing the gunshots, many people yelled, ‘Get down! Get down!,' which caused Nicki Minaj to start twerking. Can you believe it? She’s the only one that really understood what that meant.”

—Donald Trump on the White House dinner shooting pic.twitter.com/8mXltnzrrX

— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) July 25, 2026

The comment quickly went viral, with social media users split over the joke. Some criticized it as insensitive given the context of the shooting, while others praised Trump's comedic timing. One supporter wrote that the joke "had the whole room reacting," while another user joked, "HELP NOT NICKI WAS GETTING LOW ON THA FLOOR."

Trump's remark also drew attention to his increasingly public friendship with Minaj, who has openly supported his second administration. The rapper has attended several White House events and has referred to herself as Trump's "number one fan."

The White House Correspondents' Dinner was postponed for nearly three months after the alleged assassination attempt. The man accused of opening fire, Cole Tomas Allen, has pleaded not guilty to multiple federal charges, including attempted assassination of the president, and could face life in prison if convicted on the most serious counts.