Back in the 1990s, there was a very brief flurry of popularity for an English alt rock band named Pop Will Eat Itself. The band’s name was and is quite prescient, given the pop music and pop culture world’s present insistence on believing the myth of social media equalization between performer and fan. It should come as no surprise that the same followers who one minute are all bout the “YAAAAS SLAY KWEEN” will the very next minute turn with equal ferocity against the one they had just praised if said performer dares go against, or even appear to go against, the current party line. Such is the situation with rapper Nicki Minaj, who today was raked over the burning Twitter coals for daring to admit she had recently contracted COVID.

The matter started with Minaj replying to a fan’s tweet regarding why she didn’t attend this year’s Met Gala.

Love u babe. I was prepping for vmas then i shot a video & guess who got COVID? Do u know what it is not to be able to kiss or hold your tiny baby for over a week? A baby who is only used to his mama? “get vaccinated” Drake had just told me he got covid w|THE VACCINE tho so chile https://t.co/wInXoJcHBn

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021

Minaj, whose son will be turning one at the end of this month, was immediately jumped for appearing to be anti-vaccine despite tweeting her support for same. Apparently telling the truth about what fellow rapper Drake told her, namely that he contracted COVID despite being vaccinated, was too much to bear.

Not you being anti Vaccine 😭 please NICKI delete this I can’t keep doing this

— KC Minaj🍀 (@PIanetWhoree) September 13, 2021

Reading comprehension is somewhat on the wane these days, so it would seem.

Anyway, back to Minaj. She continued her story regarding the Met Gala.

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 🙏♥️

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021

Minaj accurately noted the New York City mandate regarding required proof of vaccination before attending entertainment events.

Unfortunately for Minaj, she mentioned doing her own research, which of course is strictly forbidden in The Gospel According to St. … er, Dr. Fauci:

😂 oh no not Nicki

— Nick Hedley (@nickhedley) September 13, 2021

At least Minaj has the right idea regarding prioritization of social media reactions.

Who cares what blogs gon do? Y’all always worried about blogs. This my real fkn life. They can choke https://t.co/43Kfv8j28b

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021

Unfortunately for Minaj, this is where she went off the rails a bit.

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

— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 13, 2021

Um … it probably wasn’t the vaccine at fault here. But back to the original story.

While there is the strong temptation to think “Okay, pop star said something less than Fulbright Scholarship quality, so what?” the incident reflects the hive mind mentality the left demands if one is to remain in pop culture’s good graces. Given how the right has lamentably almost completely run away from pop culture and abandoned the culture war on nearly all fronts, it may come as a surprise to learn those deemed “influencers” do actually influence others. The continuous abdication by the right of anything deemed tainted guarantees it will remain tainted and grow even more so.

The solution isn’t solely finding, developing, and supporting conservative artists, although that would definitely help. There also needs to be a stealth infiltration of entertainment entities, even as there needs to be one into the teaching profession, in order to offer front-line opposition to the leftist mantra and agenda. Be it even so small as a tweet, we need much more of this.

So well said. Personal health decision that doesn’t affect anyone else. Decide if a covid vaccine is medically necessary?

— Emily Miller (@emilymiller) September 14, 2021

Whether one is pro- or anti-vaccine, the present rush to mandate alarmingly ineffective vaccines rushed to market should give pause for thought to even the most rabid pro-vaccine people. Social media can, and does, tag every single mention of the matter with “It’s all safe because WE SAY SO!!!” without a moment of considering those pesky facts about how the vaccine is not always safe and/or effective. But, anything other than groupthink is near violently discouraged by our self-appointed betters.

We need better betters. And get well Nicki.