Grammys 2026 Host Trevor Noah Shades Nicki Minaj And Donald Trump

Trevor Noah couldn’t resist taking a pop at Nicki Minaj during his opening monologue at this year’s Grammys.

On Sunday night, the Grammy Awards kicked off with a performance by Bruno Mars and Rosé of their hit single APT., after which Trevor began his comedy routine.

For the most part, Trevor stayed clear of politics in his jokes, but began by pointing out that APT. is inspired by a popular South Korean drinking game.

“That’s way more complicated than the drinking game we have in America,” he said. “Every time you turn on the news, you drink.”

Later in his routine, he teased a performance from Ms Lauryn Hill, remarking that the last time she took to the Grammys stage was in 1999.

“Back then, the president had a sex scandal, everyone thought computers were gonna destroy the world, and Diddy was arrested,” he quipped. “Boy, how times have changed.”

The South African comic’s most explicit political reference came when he referenced the recent meet-up between the Super Bass rapper and US leader Donald Trump.

“Nicki Minaj is not here,” he pointed out, to cheers from the audience. “She is still at the White House with Donald Trump discussing very important issues.”

Slipping into a Trump impression, he continued: “I have the biggest ass! Everybody’s saying it, Nicki. I know they say it’s you, but it’s me. Look at it, baby!”

Towards the end of last year, Nicki raised eyebrows after voicing a string of right-wing comments, before being interviewed by conservative commentator Erika Kirk for the organisation Turning Point USA.

She and Trump met up at the White House last week, after which she posted on social media that she’d been presented with a so-called “Trump gold card” free of charge, though the White House later stated this was a “memento” and not any sort of legal documentation.