Speaker 1: All right.
I was not initially going to talk about this story, which is why I'm sort of a day late
on it, although much of what I'm going to talk about actually happened in the last 12
to 16 hours.
There is a I think it's appropriate to say a pop singer named Nicki Minaj, who has been
posting some sort of strange things to Twitter lately and other social media related to the
pandemic and related to science.
Nicki Minaj has close to 200 million.
That's not it.
That's not an error.
Close to 200 million followers across all social media platforms.
And the day before yesterday, she tweeted a very strange anecdote about the coronavirus
vaccine where Nicki Minaj said, quote, My cousin in Trinidad won't get the vaccine because
his friend got it and became impotent.
His testicles became swollen, his friend was weeks away from getting married.
Now the girl called off the wedding, so just pray on it and make sure you're comfortable
with your decision.
Not bullied, presumably meaning not bullied into getting the vaccine.
Now, this is a really weird anecdote for a few different reasons.
First of all, there's nothing in the scientific literature that suggests testicular swelling
can be a cause, can be caused by the vaccine.
It's also sort of strange because why would swollen testicles mean the wedding is off?
Is it because you're getting medical treatment or like does the fiance just not want to be
married to a guy whose testicles swelled?
Or is it that actually the swollen testicles were the result of maybe an STD obtained from
infidelity?
I don't know that that was sort of my tongue in cheek suggestion.
I got involved in this and responded actually and said, quote, This is a very technical
response.
I said is it may be possible the swollen apple bags were an STD from cheating, and that's
why the wedding was called off.
Now, some of the amateur doctors in my audience told me, David, there are no STDs that caused
testicular swelling.
That's not true.
I researched it.
In fact, both chlamydia and gonorrhea can cause something called or Chitose, which is
a swelling of the testicle.
So anyway, like, we don't we don't do anecdotal stuff.
We go by we go by science and peer review and randomized controlled trials.
And, you know, one person whose testicles swell in Trinidad doesn't really tell us too
much about what we need to know.
This story has exploded.
So first of all, yesterday on CNN, Jake Tapper actually asks Dr. Fauci about this specifically.
Take a listen to this.
Speaker 2: Speaking of a trusted messengers and pop star, Nicki Minaj tweeted yesterday
that she's not vaccinated.
She's doing her own research.
And then she shared an anecdote I found rather unbelievable, to be honest about alleged side
effects that her cousin's friend supposedly experienced in Trinidad.
I wouldn't normally even ask you about this, but Nicki Minaj has nearly one hundred eighty
million followers on Twitter and Instagram combined.
She's beloved by her fans.
She's a huge talent.
Obviously, her tweet was seized upon by vaccine opponents as some sort of evidence.
I want you to address what she said, because for anyone out there who has any questions
about this, Dr. Fauci, is there any evidence that the Fizer, the Maidana or the JMJ vaccines
cause any reproductive issues in men or women?
The answer to that, Jake, 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.
How can health authorities even attempt to combat this kind of misinformation coming
from somebody who is a huge and beloved international star like Nicki Minaj?
It's very difficult.
There is a lot of misinformation, mostly on social media, and the only way we know to
counter myths and this information is to provide a lot of correct information.
All right.
Speaker 1: So that might have been it, right?
Nicki Minaj tweets about the swollen testicles.
The wedding is off.
It makes one day of rounds.
And it's sort of like there's no evidence for this.
There's no medical reason.
This is this is one person.
Just because something happened after something else doesn't mean that it was caused by that
thing.
OK, fine.
But then Tucker Carlson jumps in and Tucker Carlson is very interested in this story,
very, very interested in this story.
And the clips from Tucker Carlson are indistinguishable from parody.
First, Tucker offering a clarification.
It is not Nicki Minaj, his cousin's testicles that were swollen.
It is Nicki Minaj, his cousin's friend's testicles.
Speaker 2: Things about that tweet last night.
We read it.
We put the graphic on the screen and we suggested that Nicki Minaj, his cousin, is the one with
the swollen testicles in Trinidad.
Right.
And we were wrong.
And we want to admit it.
We henceforth correct the record.
Nicki Minaj is cousins, testicles not swollen.
As far as we know.
He's fine.
It's Nicki Minaj, his cousins, friends, tribals who are sworn for.
Speaker 1: Yeah, OK, so that's already crazy.
But then this is really the wacky part.
Tucker wants to interview Nicki Minaj, his cousin's friend, about his swollen testicles.
Or Chitose now is going to be a subject.
On the Tucker Carlson program, and not only does Tucker want to interview the guy, Tucker
is willing to fly to Trinidad.
This is a clip.
This may be the clip of Tucker Carlson.
That would be, you know, in an archive to be to be reviewed a thousand years from now
by society.
Listen to this.
I mean, we Speaker 2: haven't been able to figure out
whether this show is broadcast in Trinidad, but if Nicki Minaj is cousin's friend, is
watching his former fiancee, who's watching.
We want to hear your story.
We'll come to Port of Spain to see you.
Let us know.
Speaker 1: One case of swollen testicles in Trinidad and Tucker will take his entire production
team down there and do an entire show about your swollen testicles.
Guys, we're in real trouble here, aren't we?
I mean, this now is going to be I don't even know how to characterize and quantify and
qualify.
The insanity that is spreading like a virus in this country, one thing after another,
after another, it is truly, truly stunning.
But Tucker, he's on the story.
He's ready to go interview Nicki Minaj, his cousin's friend, about his allegedly swollen
testicles, which came chronologically after supposedly receiving some vaccine.
But we don't really know much else about it.
We're screwed, guys, right?
I mean, this is this is not humanity is not pointing in the right direction at this point
in time.
I think we can say