Nicki Minaj Allegedly Received 200,000 Write-In Votes In US Election

The claim that more than 200,000 ballots were apparently inscribed with Nicki Minaj’s name in the US presidential election recently gave birth to an odd spin on the social media zeitgeist-that lasted only for a few hours! The daybreak was set by Drop Pop with a series of incendiary responses that ranged from completely doubting the claim to mocking it. While the officials have yet to verify this claim, it is perhaps the sheer absurdity that put more heat on the issue with some either questioning election integrity or pondering the role of celebrity power in politics.

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The original post was gone viral after immediately sharing a screenshot of some scribbled note somewhere supposedly tallying the alleged votes. Some took the post seriously, while others thought it was a load of satirical misinformation. A passerby said, ‘This is not a real world,’ summarizing the sentiment of about half the people who thought it too ridiculous to entertain seriously. Another user added, ‘Oh, I just know even Trump voted for her,’ in sarcasm to highlight how surreal that statement was.

But it did not tickle a few. Serious responses came along stating if true, it should utterly matter: ‘This is how we failed as a country,’ suggesting that to treat elections like a joke is to undermine democracy. ‘Another reason we have Trump now.’ Another went so far as to say that dismissing voting habits will very well land the country in an undeserved political situation.

The insults got wild-with Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Doja Cat, cited by another commenter as controversies linked with each of them-as if to say, ‘Why single out Nicki?’ From there, the thread dissolved into a curdled mess of arguments about morals, hypocrisy, and what relevance any of that has to the somewhat idiosyncratically-formed claim.

Some went even further: ‘200,000 who ass need to be beat,’ one-sidedly mocking those who might have actually bothered to write down the name for the rapper.

That, some said, was just the next chapter in the education of memetic election warfare alongside recalling the notorious ‘Harambe incident’ from the 2016 election-the gorilla from the Cincinnati zoo who received thousands of protest votes.

However, some people also started talking on Nicki Minaj’s personal politics-or lack thereof. ‘Nobody even knows who she voted for,’ a user remarked, stating that the rapper has pretty much remained silent on political endorsements. Speculation remained rampant, however, with one even suggesting that Trump might have been among her phantom voters.

Meanwhile, the post had triggered a debate about the role of celebrities in politics, with some claiming that just the very prospect of 200,000 people picking out a musician over a politician showed a serious disillusionment with the real candidates. ‘Nicki is the best candidate,’ one stated knowingly, whereas another lamented, ‘We were doing this why wasn’t I informed…’ as if lamenting being left out of a collective joke.

One thing is almost certainly true: The claim is almost certainly outright untrue. No official election data whatsoever exist to support an idea that Nicki Minaj got any write-in votes on that scale. This sort of report, labeled misinformation or satirical postings in the past, had amused many. In times when viral stories dictate the way people think about reality, however, this whole discourse around the subject ends up proving again how far removed humor, politics, and reality are from each other.

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Whether some harmless prank or a symptom of a deeper disenchantment with the electoral process, the whole Nicki Minaj write-in drama is yet another instance of how absurdity tends to glom onto the Internet much quicker than the mind can keep track of. The numbers may or may not be real, but the reactions definitely are-real from shock to ridicule, with a lot of bewilderment in between.