Cardi B transcends expectations as Drag Race judge amid 'MAGA Minaj'

Editor's note: This article was updated to include Cardi B's guest judge stint on RuPaul's Drag Race season 18 episode 1, "You Can't Keep a Good Drag Queen Down!," which aired on Friday, January 2 on MTV.

Cardi B's stint as a guest judge at the premiere of RuPaul's Drag Race season 18 has already been solidified as one of the greatest pop star-guested Drag Race premieres of all time, with the Grammy Award-winning rapper's genuine excitement and respect for Mama Ru's queendom — and overall praise for queer and trans artists over the years — being in full display at a time when beloved pop stars are taking a sharp turn toward the conservative right.

It wasn't that foreign of a concept that Cardi B, an out bisexual woman, would be an excellent Drag Race judge — a point that already stood on its own. Moreover, many fans of the show were familiar with the rapper's history of supporting drag artists and trans women, and therefore anticipated that this was bound to be a legendary legend episode of the show.

RELATED: Open the drag vaults! Meet the queens of RuPaul's Drag Race season 18

But while the new season of Drag Race was promoted with footage of Cardi B as episode 1's extra special guest judge having the time of her life, the LGBTQ+ community was still coming to terms with months of controversial remarks from fellow female rapper Nicki Minaj, who had been re-posting transphobic views, agreeing with Elon Musk's views on trans youth, and even got called out by former collaborator Kim Petras for that rhetoric.

Nearly 10 years after a feud was started with Minaj reportedly sharing insults about Cardi B's daughter, here we all found ourselves again, as Minaj wrote that Cardi B's daughter was "ugly" and a "vulture" on social media posts from as recently as October 2025 (via Vibe). Throughout November and December, Minaj continued arguing with Cardi B, and others, incessantly. Even though Minaj had always been beloved by queer people and showed support for the LGBTQ+ community on a few occasions, she "continued her descent into MAGA-land" by attending a conference hosted by widow Erika Kirk for Turning Point USA, an organization founded by her late husband Charlie Kirk.

On Friday, January 2, Drag Race season 18 premiered on MTV and showcased Cardi B as a fiercely supportive ally for trans women and drag artists. The rapper was a lovely, supportive, and hilarious judge who shared actual critiques without punching down or making anyone feel bad on their very first time ever walking the runway. That respect and admiration for LGBTQ+ talent was then evidenced even further by a gag-worthy Untucked moment thankfully shown in the main episode.

Cardi B's intimate Untucked moment with the queens came with a couple of stunning surprises for the queens lounging in the Drag Race werk room: Tokyo Stylez and Erika La' Pearl, two trans women who have been on the rapper's glam squad for many years, who became famous in their own right, and who were thrilled to be kiki-ing with the queens as well.

"These are the dolls!" Cardi B remarked while sitting alongside Stylez and La' Pearl. "I can't live without them. Literally."

RELATED: Tokyo Stylez discusses her tenacity and pop culture takeover

Myki Meeks, a 29-year-old contestant from Orlando, FL, praised their work as "queer art at its finest," telling Cardi B directly how meaningful it is to "have an artist at your caliber incorporating our community into what you do… Thank you."

"And I learned a lot from your community," Cardi B responded.

Stylez added, "I remember when I first started my transition, this is how I learned how to do makeup: RuPaul's Drag Race. And then just seeing all the looks and stuff, it just always inspires me. Even here, I was like, 'We should do this and recreate this.' You know, sometimes we bring the culture to the mainstream hip hop field."

"I don't care if people feel uncomfortable. Whatever, like, I do not care. I look right here 'cause I've got my dolls," Cardi B noted. "And the men be looking… But I'm not gonna spill tea."

The queens laughed along with Stylez and La' Pearl, and this beautiful Untucked moment came to an end.

Given Cardi B's long-standing feud between Minaj and Cardi B, the somewhat recent rise of "MAGA Minaj," and fan-favorite queen Heidi N Closet recalling the intensely negative critique she received from Minaj as a guest judge on Drag Race season 12, the timing of Cardi B as a Drag Race season 18 judge felt even more iconic than it would've already been. As expected, that parallel did spark some intense discourse between Drag Race fans, the Barbz [Minaj's fans], and the Bardi Gang [Cardi B's fans].

Oddly enough, the Drag Race tie-ins for these two rappers never really had much to do with their overall feud. Except they now paint a very different picture as we ring in the new year on the heels of problematic statements from one side and genuine support from the other side. So, before assuming that this is just another Nicki Minaj vs. Cardi B feud timeline reheating the same crunchy nachos that every other news outlet, celebrity-oriented social media page, and gossip blog has already covered extensively, we're here to assure you that it is not.

Stick around to see what we mean.

Editor's note: Below is the original timeline included in this story, which was published on December 23, 2025.

Cardi B has a kiki with Drag Race season 18 queens in a new video.

The latest Drag Race season 18 preview clip shows Cardi B walking into the werk room and greeting the fierce cast of queens competing on the show. "Hey ladies," she says on the clip.

The video then cuts to Cardi B looking gooped on the judging panel alongside RuPaul and Michelle Visage. She is clearly living her best life, and remarks that she's "gagging" over one of the contestants.

It's a pretty exciting video of Cardi B having a kiki on Drag Race, but no one could've anticipated the drama that it would create given Minaj's hard-right pivot to MAGA audiences, which has escalated to new heights.

This past Sunday, the rapper sat with Charlie Kirk's widow, Erica Kirk, for an event from Turning Point USA in Phoenix, Arizona — a moment so wild in pop culture history that even conservative attendees ended up looking shocked.

At Turning Point USA event, Nicki Minaj praises 'assassin' JD Vance.

The most viral and headline-making moment of Minaj's interview with Erika Kirk came as she congratulated certain young people for turning to conservative values and referred to Vice President JD Vance while as an "assassin," as reported by NBC News. Generally, the statement has come off as shocking, confusing, bizarre, and even insensitive.

"Dear young men, you have amazing role models like our handsome, dashing president," Minaj said. "And you have amazing role models like the assassin JD Vance, our vice president."

RELATED: From Messing to Minaj: 11 divas who disappointed LGBTQ+ fans

Erika Kirk looked stunned in reaction to Minaj's remarks. To be clear: The rapper wasn't just making a pretty wild claim about Vance in the middle of what sounded like a compliment, but she also brought up the word "assassin" in a public interview with a woman whose late husband, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated as recently as September 2025 during a speaking engagement at Utah Valley University, per CBS News.

For queer people, however, there was another soundbite from Minaj that sounded even more specific and pointed.

Nicki Minaj: 'Boys, be boys. There's nothing wrong with being a boy.'

While there are layers of context and confusion regarding Minaj's statements at the event, one other quote from the rapper stood out.

"Boys, be boys. There's nothing wrong with being a boy," Minaj declared. "How about that? How powerful is that? How profound is that? Boys will be boys, and there's nothing wrong with that."

X user @spin4saint shared a video of Minaj delivering the aforementioned statement that has amassed 12.5 million views as of this writing. The X user wrote in the post: "Nicki just on this stage being blatantly transphobic omg…"

Another clip of the same statement, shared by @RedMedia_us on X, has reached 16.6 million views. "Nicki Minaj being openly Transphobic on National TV," the X page wrote in the caption.

One day later, the Drag Race universe entered the chat as season 12 star Heidi N Closet reflected on the intensely negative critiques she received from the rapper during the very first episode of that season.

Heidi N Closet references 'MAGA Minaj,' tags the rapper in an X post.

Heidi N Closet shared an X post viewed by more than 4 million people so far. "MAGA Minaj [eyes emoji; 3x] it was more then[sic] just my hair and makeup you hated," the Miss Congeniality winner wrote while tagging Minaj's X page.

• If you need a reminder of Minaj's guest judge stint on Drag Race, read the next section.
• If you don't need a reminder, skip to the following section.

RECAP: What did Nicki Minaj say while critiquing Heidi N Closet on Drag Race?

Minaj appeared as an extra special guest judge on the premiere of Drag Race season 12, which aired in 2020 (but was filmed in 2019).

One critique from Minaj to Heidi N Closet stood out for being particularly negative. "I hate, hate, haaaaate your hair and makeup today," Minaj told Heidi during the episode. "The wig and the makeup could have enhanced your face even more to match this beautiful gown that you have on."

It is not customary for guest judges on Drag Race to share such intensely negative remarks about a contestant who is having the opportunity of a lifetime to compete on the Emmy-winning series. That is even truer in the first episode of a new season given that queens are clearly nervous about walking and standing on the Drag Race runway for the first time and are clearly freaking out about being the first-eliminated queen of the season.

Nicki Minaj responds to Heidi N Closet's X post.

Minaj quote-shared Heidi N Closet's X post to answer it for herself. "*than," the rapper wrote, correcting a grammatical error in Heidi's original post.

As noted by Variety, the "boys, be boys" statement came across as being "beyond her beliefs about trans youths," but also about the rapper feeling like "boys are discouraged from being masculine."

Considering that the Drag Race ethos has been fundamentally about being in touch with one's femininity (regardless of each person's gender identity), and the show's long-standing history of featuring trans contestants, crowning trans winners, and likely featuring more trans individuals than any other mainstream reality show, both interpretations of Minaj's "boys, be boys" remarks are hurtful to the LGBTQ+ community, and directly opposes what Drag Race, as a platform for LGBTQ+ talent, has been about for 18 seasons.

Heidi N Closet shares new posts following Nicki Minaj's grammatical correction.

Heidi received a flood of posts from the "Barbz" (Minaj's fans) attacking her on X — pretty much immediately. In response, the beloved Drag Race star used her signature humor.

"The mug and hair was a chop that day I can admit that!!" Heidi wrote on X. "However something I can say is I never have nor will stand with pedos [heart emoji.]"

Here, Heidi referenced accusations against Minaj's husband, Kenneth Petty, and her brother, Jelani Maraj.

"Nicki Minaj's brother has been sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for raping an 11-year-old girl," BBC News reported on January 2020. "Jelani Maraj was first convicted of predatory sexual assault and child endangerment in November 2017."

On July 2022, another report from BBC News read, "Nicki Minaj's husband has been sentenced to a year of home detention for failing to register as a sex offender. Kenneth Petty was required to inform authorities when he moved due to an attempted rape conviction from 1995…but the 44-year-old admitted failing to do this when he relocated to California with Nicki Minaj in 2019."

Heidi also responded to some of the Minaj fans attacking her.

X user @owen_zolanski wrote, "I don't tuck my dick between my leg to support a delusion. I dress and act like a MAN. Yo father did a nasty job. You oogly son a disgrace."

Heidi promptly clapped back: "If being blessed so much I've gotten to travel the world 'paid to do so' entertaining the people, the ability to pay all my bills and not want for nothing… I'll be a disgrace what can you say your dad's proud of?"

Cardi B has an interesting history with drag queens, too.

You might assume that there can't possibly be even more to this story, but we're here to tell you that there absolutely is one last chapter in this saga worth exploring: Cardi B's own dynamics with drag.

Thankfully, Cardi B's history with queer artists, trans women, and drag performers has generally ended in a happier ending, which we can all use right about now.

Cardi B goes viral with 'okurrr.'

Cardi B first went viral saying "okurrr" during an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon from December 2017. When asked about her then-recent engagement to rapper Offset (one of three members in Migos), Cardi B looked at Fallon with a proud face and spontaneously let out an "okurrr." That soundbite was funny enough that Fallon repeated it, encouraging Cardi B to double down on it even more.

At the time, Mikelle Street wrote about the origins of "okurrr" in a story for Out after the Los Angeles Times reported that Cardi B was seemingly moving to trademark "okurrr" for merch like paper goods, clothing, and cosmetics. The story investigated whether or not the soundbite came from ballroom culture, or perhaps from actor Rodney Chester starring on Noah's Arc.

The story also explored how Laganja Estranja had popularized the term within reality TV at large while competing on RuPaul's Drag Race season 6 (and being made fun of for saying "okurrr"). Moreover, Khloé Kardashian had also brought the soundbite into universe of Keeping Up With the Kardashians on E!.

Cardi B stance even back then, however, was to give credit where credit was due.

Laganja Estranja wrote a since-deleted X post (then called a tweet) to Cardi B that read:

"Can I please do my iconic drop in the commercial for your new #Okurrr merch?!? I was once made fun of for using this word, and now you can help me come full circle."

Cardi B promptly replied to the Drag Race star, writing: "Shiiiiiettt you will be the first I call but you gotta teach me how to do the drop first with out me breakin my hip."

As Cardi B was targeted by negative comments for her use of "okurrr," Laganja took to social media to defend the rapper. "Can we stop the negative comments?!? The word #okurrr originated from the ballroom scene, but Cardi was smart enough to capitalize on it! Props to ya MAWMA!!"

Cardi B names her sophomore album 'Am I The Drama?'

The most recent connection between Cardi B and drag artists came in the form of naming her sophomore album Am I the Drama? — a sentence/question originated by drag queen Scarlet Envy in her "Meet the Queens" interview segment ahead of Drag Race season 11.

Once again, it was unclear whether or not Cardi B knew that this was originated by a drag queen, and the internet's knee-jerk reaction was to assume that she was going to steal the catchphrase for herself without giving Scarlet Envy any credit.

Thankfully, that is not what happened.

It didn't even take a full week for Cardi B to link up with Scarlet Envy and create a moment alongside the queen, making sure that the existential question Scarlet once asked herself ("am I the drama?"), and that went viral in the Drag Race fandom, was clear enough for hip hop fans as well — even if they would now know it as the title of Cardi B's sophomore album.

While performing at LadyLand Festival, Scarlet Envy brought out Cardi B and showed the audience that they were united — not beefing — over the new album being titled Am I the Drama?. The rapper even performed a song ("Outside") from the upcoming album during Scarlet's set, and the two of them teased that they had plans to collaborate on other projects.

Cardi B joins Mama Ru's queendom — officially — in 2026.

Cardi B now gets to sashay her way into Mama Ru's queendom — officially! — as the first guest judge of a new season to ring in the new year. Mama, kudos!

RuPaul's Drag Race season 18 premieres Friday, January 2, on MTV.