D.L. Hughley says Nicki Minaj is targeting the wrong person in Fauci criticism

The comedian argued Trump, not Fauci, should receive the bulk of criticism over the federal pandemic response.

D.L. Hughley defended Dr. Anthony Fauci after Nicki Minaj again criticized the former federal health official’s role in the COVID-19 response. The comedian said Minaj was directing her anger at the wrong person, extending a public disagreement shaped by his prior clashes with Minaj and her vaccine misinformation controversy.

TMZ reported that Hughley addressed the dispute while attending Cedric the Entertainer’s 13th annual celebrity golf tournament Monday. He was responding to a satirical post and video in which Minaj portrayed Fauci writing in a diary and blamed pandemic policies for damage to education, older adults and families.

Feeding tubes will be his portion.
He will lose the ability to speak & then & only then will he feel the collective pain & long term ramifications he caused to new borns, young children who are still trying to become acclimated into society & schools, traumatized pregnant women… https://t.co/CXSNxIte3v pic.twitter.com/9a4joYw5Gk— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 31, 2026

Hughley said Minaj should scrutinize President Donald Trump, whom she has publicly supported, rather than focusing only on Fauci. He described Fauci as someone who tried to introduce scientific thinking into the federal response while officials confronted a new virus and rapidly changing evidence.

Dear Diary pic.twitter.com/bHWPsu7wpK— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) July 31, 2026

Hughley’s defense of Fauci included a reference to Trump’s April 23, 2020, White House briefing. The official transcript records Trump asking whether disinfectant could be used “by injection inside or almost a cleaning” after a presentation about disinfectants killing the virus on surfaces. Medical experts warned that disinfectants must not be ingested or injected.

The comedian also mentioned Herman Cain, the former Republican presidential candidate who died from COVID-19 complications in July 2020. Cain attended Trump’s June 20 rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, tested positive nine days later and was hospitalized, although it was never established where he contracted the virus.

The disagreement also revisits Minaj’s 2021 claim about an alleged vaccine side effect involving her cousin’s friend in Trinidad. Fauci said there was no evidence COVID-19 vaccines caused the reproductive problems she described, and Trinidad and Tobago’s health minister said officials found no reported case matching the story.