Nicki Minaj Gets Nasty for Trump

The party was for Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the world for 2016. But two people stole the night: Donald Trump and Nicki Minaj.

Trump was the energy in the New York gala room and captured everyone’s attention all night long, according to CNN. Journalists gathered around him — Gayle King and Charlie Rose urged him to come on the morning show. Martha Stewart said “hi” to him. Chris Licht told him about his new job running Stephen Colbert’s “Late Show.” And dozens of people wanted to take selfies with him.

But it was Nicki Minaj who closed the ceremony and grabbed attention, not only with her lacy thong outfit, but with her raunchy performance, which included “The Crying Game,” “Feeling Myself,” and “Truffle Butter.”

She got the elite guests, including actress Jenna Lyons, foodie Padma Lakshmi, and CBS anchor Norah O’Donnell, up and dancing right by the stage. Minaj, during a break in the bumping and grinding, saluted “independent women” who “got your own money in the bank” and “don’t need a man to buy you a car or a house,” according to Time.

Minaj then said, “I’m very political, and I would like to dedicate a song, just in the spirit of unity, to Joe Biden and Donald Trump.” That song was “Anaconda,” filled with expletives, nasty lyrics, and references to women’s backsides. The callipygian singer changed the line “Boy toy named Troy used to live in Detroit” to include Trump’s name and the second verse with Biden’s (“This dude named Michael used to ride motorcycles”).

Afterward, she asked the crowd, “Do you think they like that song? Who do you think likes the biggest butts, Donald Trump or Joe Biden?”

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Trump wasn’t there to answer the question. He — with wife Melania, who was celebrating her 46th birthday — arrived late and left right after Ariana Grande’s opening performance of the songs “Dangerous Woman” and “Leave Me Lonely.” (Although, before the dinner on the red carpet, Trump told Access Hollywood that he thinks both Minaj and Grande are “terrific.”) He needed to give a victory speech for winning Tuesday’s five primary states.

Ted Cruz and Hillary Clinton were also on Time’s 100 list, but they did not attend.

Interestingly, Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus, a fellow Time 100 honoree along with Minaj and Grande, spoke with Trump. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” Trump said to Priebus, and with that, he headed home to Trump Tower.

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“I want to stay here so bad,” he said as he made an early exit, reported the New York Post. He began to make a move toward the exit, but not before another dozen photographs and selfies were taken. The room instantly had less energy, reported CNN’s Brian Stelter.

Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter noted that some Trump snark came from author John Green, who was quoted as saying, “Can I just take a pill and wake up in mid-November, and just hope the president isn’t that guy?”

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Also speaking at the event were Ford Foundation President Darren Walker, Congolese gynecologist Denis Mukwege, and Formula One racer Lewis Hamilton, who led a toast to the late Prince, calling the rocker “arguably the best artist of all time.”

Melissa McCarthy saluted fellow honorees, including Grande, saying, “Singing out of that tiny little body — I don’t know how that works.”

The night must have left Trump in a good mood. During his victory speech later that night, he was gracious with the press. “I want to thank the media. The media’s really covered me very fair for the last two hours.” Trump continued, “They’ve been really very fair over the last few weeks.”