Rapper Nicki Minaj has called on fellow celebrities and influencers to use their platforms to speak out about reported violence against Christians in Nigeria, Nigeria 24 reported this week.

Minaj made the remarks at the X Takeover event held at Tesla's Giga Texas facility in Austin, where she said the issue had become personal for her. She pointed to her Nigerian pastor and her large Nigerian fanbase as the reason the reports first caught her attention.

"For Nigeria personally, my pastor is from Nigeria, so I have a link to Nigeria because of him, and of course, I have a lot of Nigerian barbs," she told the audience. She added that she had begun seeing reports of brutality against Christians there and wondered why the issue was not getting more attention: "Sometimes when things aren't cool to talk about, people just don't talk about it."

She closed with a direct appeal to her peers: "I'm hoping that more celebrities or people, influencers -- I'm hoping that they come aboard the train to start speaking out about what's happening to Christians in Nigeria."

The claim is not new. Minaj first backed President Donald Trump's assertions of Christian persecution in Nigeria in November 2025, when she spoke at a United Nations event organized by the U.S. mission and thanked Trump for what she called his leadership on the issue. She has since become one of the most prominent celebrity voices amplifying the claim.

The Nigerian government has consistently rejected the characterization. Officials have described the claims as "a gross misrepresentation of reality." Information Minister Idris Muhammed told the Associated Press that "there is no systematic, intentional attempt either by the Nigerian government or by any serious group to target a particular religion."

Nigerian officials have also pointed to data from organizations that monitor political violence in the country, which report that most victims of jihadist attacks in Nigeria are Muslim. The violence that has plagued Nigeria for years -- from Boko Haram and ISWAP insurgencies to banditry and farmer-herder clashes -- affects communities across faith lines, and analysts have repeatedly noted that many deadly disputes are driven by resources like land and water, or by inter-ethnic tensions, rather than by religion alone.

Critics, including the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project and the Council on Foreign Relations, have described the framing of Christians as disproportionately targeted as a dangerous reduction of Nigeria's complex security crisis.

What is not in dispute is that Nigeria's Christians -- and Nigeria's Muslims -- continue to suffer grievously from violence, and that displaced families, destroyed villages, and grieving communities on every side need prayer and help. Minaj has not said when she plans to visit Nigeria, though she has said she loves the country and its people.