Nicki Minaj has lost her blue Twitter verification checkmark, but Cardi B‘s remains intact, with it being unclear if the “WAP” hitmaker is paying for it.
The Pinkprint rapper responded humorously to the lost checkmark, which comes as hundreds of prolific celebrities have begun to lose their verification status in the wake of Elon Musk’s paid Twitter Blue subscription service.
AD LOADING...
“@NICKIMINAJ get the verification badge I keep thinking you’re a troll account,” one disgruntled fan wrote to the rap star.
“I am,” Nicki replied, attaching a Dr. Evil meme, seemingly in response to the “troll” comment.
I am https://t.co/GlNHdF9xaZpic.twitter.com/OjlpR6as8W
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) April 21, 2023
The move comes as Elon Musk begins to overhaul Twitter’s legacy verification status in the hopes to turn a profit for the company, with users who wish to retain the check beside their name being forced to pay $84 a year.
While Drake,Beyoncé,Kanye West,Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Oprah Winfrey and Dionne Warwick were but a few of the celebs to lose their blue verification mark in recent days, TMZ confirmed that The Weeknd,Soulja Boy, LL COOL J, OJ Simpson and even Taylor Swift were all paying for the Twitter Blue service.
AD LOADING...
Cardi B’s blue checkmark is still in tact as of press time on Friday (April 21), but it was unclear if she was one of the aforementioned artists paying for the check.
On Thursday (April 20), Elon Musk mentioned that he coming out out pocket to ensure a few celebs keep their status, including LeBron James, author Stephen King and actor William Shatner.
I’m paying for a few personally
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 20, 2023
Just Shatner, LeBron and King
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) April 21, 2023
The paid subscription service has rubbed numerous celebrities the wrong way, including Akon and The Game, who aired their grievances against Musk earlier this month.
“They came up with a verification process to protect accounts from fakes ones, now @elonmusk is taking that away and forcing us to pay,” Akon wrote in a now-deleted tweet, according to TMZ. “FYI, I ain’t paying shit for something we helped build.”
AD LOADING...
The Game then added on his Instagram Stories: “If you bought your verification and I know you personally, delete my number. It tells me everything I need to know about you. You a broke cheater — we are not the same.”
Twitter drama aside, Cardi recently celebrated the fifth anniversary of her debut album Invasion OfPrivacy and revealed she’s still earning “millions” of dollars from the project.
“What my team got me, guys!” Cardi exclaimed in a video posted to her Instagram Stories. “Yeah! Five years! I’m still getting booked for millions of dollars with one muthafuckin’ album, bitch! Yeah, wassup? Ain’t nobody can tell me nothing.”
While fans are still waiting with bated breath for Cardi’s sophomore album, the Bronx-bred rapper revealed During a candid Instagram Live broadcast last year that her struggle with anxiety is partly to blame for the delay.
“I’ve been having a lot of anxiety, because I know right after I drop my album, I have to go out on tour and I have bad separation anxiety from my kids,” she said.
AD LOADING...
As for Nicki Minaj, she’s also hard at work on new music. She most recently dropped off her new song “Red Ruby Da Sleeze,” which she confirmed in a recent interview would not serve as the lead single off her forthcoming follow-up to her 2018 album Queen.
“‘Red Ruby [Da Sleeze],’ I dropped it as a itty-bitty just something,” she said while premiering the song on the Stationhead app. “’Cause I know it’s gon’ go off on tour, it’s gon’ go off on y’all. It’s just rapping. But the album, obviously, I have to drop my official single for the album. ‘Red Ruby’ is not the official single for the album.”
