Nicki Minaj Shows Elon Musk Birthday Love

On Saturday (June 27), tech mogul Elon Musk celebrated his birthday and received a special heartfelt message from a popular friend – Nicki Minaj. 

The Pink Friday 2 rapper posted a smiling selfie of her and the Tesla founder in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “Thank you for saving free speech, Elon,” Minaj wrote in the caption, referring to Musk’s acquisition of the platform in 2022.  “Happy Birthday 🎉🎉🎉 Love always 🤎 From Gag City & the Barbz! 🩷🎀”

The post is another example of the growing connection between Nicki Minaj and Elon Musk on a public level. Last month, she surprised the billionaire with a visit to the SpaceX Starbase complex in Boca Chica, Texas, as they prepared to livestream the launch of the company’s Starship V3 rocket. 

“Major shout out to Elon. Thank you for everything you’re doing for humanity,” Minaj said during the broadcast, encouraging her brigade of fans known as the Barbz to tune in. While they scrubbed the launch that day, the 408-foot-tall rocket successfully reached space, with the Queens, N.Y., artist cheering it on in a post on X. “Let’s Go @SpaceX!!! You guys are pretty freaking amazing. Wow. Congratulations on the successful launch — and to many, MANY more,” she wrote.

Nicki Minaj’s friendship with Musk is also tied to his claims of advocating for freedom of speech. Musk cited it as a core of X after acquiring the platform, and still makes pronouncements from time to time on the platform referring back to that ideal, even as many critics note how he tends to extend that more to right-wingers and white nationalists who are abundant on X than others he doesn’t agree with.

As far as the “Bigfoot” rapper’s feelings, she spoke at length about freedom of speech and her willingness to speak out more in an interview with TIME. In that interview, she also spoke about her willingness to join Trump’s MAGA movement and how swatting incidents and her interaction with other political figures compelled her to be more vocal.