CLAY: Nicki Minaj. I’m not making this up. This singer, she tweeted that her cousin’s friend had gotten swollen testicles because of the covid vaccine (laughs), and this thing went viral, massive discussion. Everybody’s angry at Nicki Minaj, including Dr. Fauci, who still, by the way, hasn’t responded to our invite to the program. But of course, he was on CNN. And this is an exasperated Dr. Anthony Fauci talking about Nicki Minaj’s cousin’s friend’s swollen testicles as it pertains to the covid vaccine. Enjoy. (laughing) Enjoy.
FAUCI: The answer to that is a resounding “no.” There’s no evidence that it happens, nor is there any mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen. So the answer to your question is “no.” These kinds of claims — which, you know, may be, y’know, innocent on her part; I’m not, y’know, blaming her for anything. But she should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis as except, uhh, a one-off anecdote, and that’s not what science is all about.
BUCK: (impression) “I can neither confirm nor deny allegations all of swollen testicular nature based on the data and all we see here.”
CLAY: I would love Nicki Minaj versus Dr. Fauci. I think Nicki Minaj interviewed Joe Biden, I think, on Instagram.
BUCK: Just to be clear for everybody here, Clay, you tweet a lot, right? I tweet a fair amount. You tweet more often than I do. Nicki Minaj has almost 23 million Twitter followers.
CLAY: Yeah. She’s pretty famous.
BUCK: So when she puts out the swollen man area anecdotal story, it actually does get a fair amount of traction. Didn’t she also say there was a fertility issue for the guy?
CLAY: Yeah.
BUCK: That’s implied by the reaction.
CLAY: He wasn’t able to have children anymore. Yeah.
BUCK: Look, I also think it’s fascinating how if you — and this is a real dichotomy that exists. If you are associated with the right, which I think it’s fair to say Nicki Minaj is not, although she was raising a question. She didn’t say, “Don’t get the shot.” She just said she was asking to figure it out — and, remember, there are a lot of people that want to ask questions about this and never get answers and they’re just told shut up and do it.
But, Clay, if you are a Trump supporter or associated with the right in any way, your hesitancy to get the shot is reckless and you’re killing people. If you are a Democrat-favored constituency of some kind or associated with the Democrat Party, it’s always more, “Oh, but you have real reasons for concern or not trusting the government or this was the Trump vaccine and it’s his fault or whatever.” They changed the blame depending on what your politics are because that’s how much this has become politicized.
CLAY: Oh, there’s no doubt. No doubt. But I do love the idea of Fauci going head-to-head with Nicki Minaj in a battle over testicular fortitude relating to the covid vaccine.
CLAY: (laughing)
BUCK: I just bore you to tears. He’s like a psychological safety blanket for people that watch him at MSNBC and CNN. They just think he’s like the old crusty doctor who’s (impression), “Maybe you’ll die; maybe you’ll live. I don’t know. We’ll see.”
CLAY: (laughing)
BUCK: They think that he’s fantastic.
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