Nicki Minaj explains why she began showing public support for Trump despite extreme backlash from fans

Nicki Minaj says she is standing up to the 'bullying' faced by Donald Trump after the 'Side to Side' hitmaker publicly backed the president at various public events.

The singer threw her support behind the current president back in December when she took to the stage in a surprise guest appearance at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona.

Fans were certainly surprised by Minaj's appearance alongside Erika Kirk, considering she described Trump's immigration policies during his first term as 'so scary' and spoke about coming to the US 'as an illegal immigrant' in a 2018 Facebook post.

The rapper's speech at the event - in which she described Donald Trump and Vice-President JD Vance as 'role models' - left some of her fans furious, and it even got to the point where a ‘Deport Nicki Minaj to Trinidad’ petition garnered huge traction.

The 43-year-old has since come out and addressed the backlash she's faced, while also maintaining her support for President Trump.

The singer has faced some backlash after expressing her support for Trump (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Speaking on The Katie Miller Podcast, Minaj was asked what brought her to support the current president, to which she said: "Religious freedom is something that's very important to me. But if I'm being honest, President Trump, because when I saw how he was being treated over and over and over, I just couldn't handle it."

The 'Bang Bang' singer then went on to address some of the criticism she's faced since going public with her political views, and the 'bullying' she's felt the president has had to put up with.

"I felt that same, you know, a lot of that bullying in this man's campaign, and all of the lying," Minaj added. "I felt that that had been done to me for so many years, and I was watching it in real time happen to someone else, and I didn't think he deserved it. And it made me think, I can't do this anymore."

Minaj even attended the Trump Accounts Summit last week and was even invited on stage by the president.

Nicki Minaj has been vocal about her support for President Trump recently (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

The singer and the POTUS briefly held hands, while Trump even awkwardly kissed her on the forehead.

At the event, Minaj declared herself the Republican president's 'number one fan' as she was handed Trump's 'gold card' visa.

The card, which provides applicants residency and even the chance of US citizenship, was given to Minaj as a 'memento' instead of a form of legal visa documentation, an anonymous White House official told The New York Times.

One of these cards typically requires a $1,000,000 contribution, as well as a $15,000 processing fee.