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Republican congressman George Santos has reportedly introduced a bill named for Nicki Minaj as part of his re-election announcement.
The controversial politician announced his intent to run for re-election for New York’s 3rd Congressional District based in Queens in 2024 on Monday (April 17th). On Tuesday (April 18th), he also introduced seven new bills – one of which has been named “The Minaj Act” after rapper Nicki Minaj. According to political reporter Kadia Goba, the purpose of the “Medical Information Nuanced Accountability Judgement Act” is to create “a development period for new vaccines in order to generate public confidence.”
According to a statement from Santos, the proposed bill also “seeks to prohibit any Federal Government from imposing any mandate requiring an individual to receive a vaccine that has not been authorized for marketing for at least ten years.”
The news of naming the bill after the Pinkprint rapper and Queens native raised some eyebrows. Minaj has been vocal in the past about the COVID-19 vaccine, expressing reluctance to take it through social media. “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”, she wrote in 2021.
She would continue in another tweet that her cousin declared that he would never get the COVID-19 vaccine, saying his friend took it and “became impotent,” and experienced “swollen testicles” as a result leading to his fiancée calling off their wedding. According to the Centers for Disease Control, testicular swelling is not a side effect of taking the COVID-19 vaccine. Minaj would then claim she had been invited to The White House to discuss her skepticism about the vaccines, but then-Press Secretary Jen Psaki would clarify that the artist was only offered an early-stage phone call. Representatives for Nicki Minaj didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The introduction of the bill is the latest head-scratching moment from Santos while he has been in office. The congressman, who has been accused of multiple fabrications about his background and career (which include lying about having Jewish roots and his mother dying in the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks), is now under investigation for allegedly stealing $3,000 from a GoFundMe set up through his charity meant to benefit a disabled veteran and his dying dog.
