Nicki Minaj leaned into her MAGA pivot with a cringeworthy cameo at Elon Musk’s failed Starship launch.
“Starships are meant to fly,” SpaceX posted on X, riffing on the name of one of Minaj’s biggest hits, minutes before Thursday’s uncrewed launch of the massive Starship V3 was canceled.
Musk, the SpaceX CEO, blamed the fail on a malfunctioning hydraulic pin on part of the launch tower and confirmed that there would be another attempt on Friday. “If that can be fixed tonight, there will be another launch attempt tomorrow at 5:30 CT,” he posted on X on Thursday.
Even more embarrassingly for Musk, Minaj was there at the Starbase site in Boca Chica Beach, Texas, to watch the launch unravel. “Welcome to Starbase,” the billionaire said on his social media site, tagging the musician.
Minaj was interviewed at Starbase by giddy SpaceX lackeys who lauded her Starship-branded T-shirt as she heaped praise on President Donald Trump’s on-again ally. “Major shoutout to Elon. Thank you for everything you’re doing for humanity,” she said.
SpaceX has conducted 11 integrated Starship flight tests, with at least seven ending in explosions, loss of vehicle, uncontrolled re-entry, or other major mission-ending anomalies.
The latest flop could be remedied on Friday, but it provides bad optics ahead of the firm’s stock market debut on the Nasdaq. The initial public offering, reportedly due next month, could make Musk, already the world’s richest person, the first ever trillionaire.
Minaj, meanwhile, has been ingratiating herself in the MAGA world. The 43-year-old first publicly endorsed the president, 79, in mid-2025 but has since ramped up her public collaborations with Trumpworld figures.
Minaj, the highest-selling female rapper in history, joined the widow of slain MAGA activist Charlie Kirk, Erika Kirk, at Turning Point’s AmericaFest in December before visiting the White House in January, where she gleefully held hands with the president onstage during a D.C. summit.
Minaj shows no signs of letting up, telling Time earlier this month that she’ll “do whatever it is” that Trump asks of her to support the MAGA effort in the upcoming midterm elections.
She also painted herself as a bellwether of things to come. “Many celebrities feel the way I do, but they don’t say it,” Minaj told Time. “Sometimes, you just need one brave person to get the brunt of the impact. I think I am the catalyst for that change.”
