Nicki Minaj teams up with UN Ambassador to highlight persecution of Christians

In a collaboration no one predicted, United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz and rapper Nicki Minaj are teaming up this week to shine a light on the persecution of Christians in Nigeria.

Revealing himself as a fan of the “Super Bass” singer, Waltz considered Minaj “arguably the greatest female artist.” Waltz said on

Minaj responded, “Ambassador, I am very grateful to be entrusted with an opportunity of this magnitude. I don’t take it for granted. It means more than you think. The Barbz and I will never stand down in the face of injustice. God gave us our influence. There has to be a greater purpose.”

POPE LEO XIV CALLS OUT PERSECUTION OF CHRISTIANS AMID LATEST MASSACRE OF CIVILIANS IN AFRICAN NATION

Minaj has supported the Trump administration’s efforts to end the persecution of Christians in Nigeria. (Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images)

The speech, first reported by Time Magazine correspondent Eric Cortelessa, will take place Tuesday in New York.

Years of bloodshed in Africa’s most populous country have only recently attracted widespread attention in the United States, with President Donald Trump threatening military action if Nigeria’s government fails to rein in violent Islamist groups.

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz speaks during a Security Council meeting on the situation in the Middle East, including the issue of Palestinian statehood, during the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, September 23, 2025, at UN headquarters in New York. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

While the government disputes that Christians are specifically targeted – pointing out that non-religious and moderate Muslims have also been victims – Christian advocacy group Open Doors considers Nigeria the seventh most dangerous country in the world for Christians and says: “more Christians are killed for their faith in Nigeria than in the rest of the world combined.”

“Terrorists attack all those who reject their murderous ideology – Muslims, Christians and those who have no faith,” the Nigerian presidential office wrote on X.

Trump names Nigeria as ‘particularly concerned’ about widespread persecution and killings of Christians

The country is home to 100 million Christians and various human rights groups say 50,000 people have been killed since the Boko Haram insurgency began in 2009.

The figures are difficult to verify, but the International Society for Civil Liberties and the Rule of Law reports that at least 52,000 Christians were killed, some 18,500 kidnapped and unlikely to have survived, and 20,000 Christian churches and schools attacked between 2009 and 2023.

Pope Leo XIV has condemned the killing of 200 people in the Yelewata community in Nigeria. (Associated Press)

Trump this month designated Nigeria a “country of particular concern” – placing it among the likes of China, Iran, Russia and North Korea – and charged Reps. Riley Moore, RW.Va., and Tom Cole, R-Okla., for leading an investigation into what they call Christian “genocide.”

In a video on Truth Social this month, Trump threatened to “do things to Nigeria that Nigeria wouldn’t be happy with” and to “go to this now disgraced country with guns.”

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Minaj said that during tough financial times early in her music career, she considered giving up for a 9 to 5, but “faith” got her through it.

“(Faith is) what has always helped me. My mother kept me in church when I was younger, so I never really strayed from it in terms of belief and faith and drive,” she said in a statement. discussion on Fuse TV with Matte Babbel.