After nearly eight months without Donald Trump in the White House, late-night TV can’t quite believe the comedy gift it’s been given in the form of Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s swollen testicles. For the second consecutive night, Stephen Colbert spent the bulk of his Late Show monologue on what he has now officially deemed a new “Ball Gags” segment.
After recapping the initial controversy over Minaj’s tweet claiming that her cousin won’t get the COVID-19 vaccine because his friend “became impotent” after receiving it in Trinidad, the host revealed that the rapper had actually responded to a parody music video his show created the night before by tweeting that she “rlly likes” Colbert, adding the hashtag #SuperBalls.
“Darling Nicki, for the record I ‘rlly’ like you too,” Colbert told her. “That’s why I want you to get vaccinated, so you can come on the show. Because without a shot, the network ‘rlly’ won’t let you come on.”
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And yet despite both Dr. Anthony Fauci and Trinidad’s health minister taking time out of their busy schedules to debunk Minaj’s claim, she did receive some support from Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, who was forced to offer a particularly absurd correction on his show Tuesday night.
While a graphic on his show Monday night “suggested that Nicki Minaj’s cousin was the one with the swollen testicles,” Carlson told viewers that it’s actually “Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s testicles who are swollen from taking the vax.”
“I’m glad to see that Fox News has finally come to terms with some of its dangerous misstatements,” Colbert joked, “and this time it’s not the trivial stuff like, ‘Was the election stolen?’ or ‘Should I huff horse medicine?’”
As the host put it, Carlson jumped on Minaj’s tweet because he’s “desperate for any proof that the vaccine is not safe,” at one point urging the cousin’s friend in question to get in touch with him so he go down to Port of Spain himself to get the full story in all its gruesome detail.
“That’s right, Tucker is willing to go anywhere to get the important stories,” Colbert added. “It reminds me of when Walter Cronkite went to Vietnam to interview Jimi Hendrix’s cousin’s friend, who claimed the polio vaccine gave him a micro-taint.”
And while Colbert offered to travel to Trinidad to interview the swollen balls himself, he said he “draws the line with interviewing a talking dick.”
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