During a recent appearance at Turning Point USA’s AmFest, Nicki Minaj found herself in a bit of an awkward situation when she mistakenly referred to JD Vance as an “assassin” while trying to compliment him in front of Erika Kirk.

Nicki Minaj, whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty, 43, was visibly embarrassed after the slip-up, covering her face with her hands. The incident occurred as she was speaking with Erika, the widow of Charlie Kirk, on Sunday.

The misstep happened when Erika Kirk inquired about Minaj’s advice for young men. Minaj seized the opportunity to criticize California Governor Gavin Newsom, playfully dubbing him “New-scum.”

“Young men, you have incredible role models, like our dashing and handsome president,” Minaj went on to say.

She continued, “And you have amazing role models like the assassin JD Vance, our vice president.”

The singer appeared to quickly realize she used the word ‘assassin’ in front of the widow whose husband was assassinated in September, and paused with her head down. 

As some in the crowd began to laugh, Kirk quickly let Minaj off the hook as she stepped in and said: ‘Trust me, there is nothing new under the sun that I have not heard. So you’re fine… You let it roll right off your back.’

The moment came after Minaj heaped praise on President Trump in her sit-down with Kirk, receiving huge cheers as she said: ‘I have the utmost respect and admiration for our President.’ 

‘I don’t know if he even knows this, but he has given so many people hope… This administration is full of people with heart and soul and they make me proud,’ she added. 

Nicki Minaj suffered an embarrassing gaffe in front of Erika Kirk as she attempted to praise JD Vance as an ‘assassin’ while speaking with Charlie Kirk’s widow at Turning Point USA’s AmFest on Sunday

The singer quickly put her head in her hands as she used the poor choice of words 

Kirk noted that Minaj’s flub would likely go viral, as she said she didn’t care ‘if the internet wants to clip it.’ 

‘I love this woman. She’s an amazing woman. She has a soul and a heart for the Lord. And words are words, but I know her heart and it doesn’t even matter. And you say what you wanna say because I know your heart,’ she added. 

The moment came after Erika Kirk suffered her own gaffe at the event, as she accidentally called a young conservative activist a ‘grifter’ while handing an award to a student in her late husband’s name. 

Erika stumbled over her words while presenting the Charlie Kirk Courage Award to Utah Valley University student Caleb Chilcutt, telling the crowd: ‘Despite the devastating loss of Charlie Kirk, my incredible husband, Caleb has persisted with the same grift, gift, grit… it has been a long day.’

‘Trust me you’re not a grifter, honey,’ she then told Chilcutt. ‘It’s all good.’ 

Minaj showed her support for the Turning Point USA event after Kirk surprised many as she opened up the summit on Thursday by endorsing JD Vance for president in 2018. 

Erika, who became CEO of Turning Point USA following her husband’s assassination in September, told crowd that she wanted to see a huge victory for the Vice President, who also took the stage on Sunday after Minaj. 

‘We are going to get my husband’s friend, JD Vance, elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible,’ Kirk said in reference to him becoming the 48th president after Donald Trump.

Even though the Vice President has not yet unveiled any plans to run, Kirk’s comments were met with rapturous applause and cheers from the conservative event. 

Minaj came out as a staunch Donald Trump supporter at the event, describing the president as ‘dashing’ before accidentally referring to JD Vance as an ‘assassin’ 

Kirk’s endorsement came as she tried to keep the peace amid a night of infighting among MAGA faithful at the glitzy event.

Headliners Ben Shapiro and Tucker Carlson both took shots at each other during their respective speeches, battling over conspiracy theories that have swirled since Kirk’s death.

Shapiro kicked things off by criticizing Carlson for hosting far-right commentator Nick Fuentes on his show in October.

He also collectively slammed him, Candace Owens, Megyn Kelly and Steve Bannon as ‘frauds’ and ‘grifters.’ Kelly and Bannon – as well as several other prominent conservatives were notably billed alongside Shapiro at the event. 

Shapiro warned ‘the conservative movement is in serious danger’ thanks to these conservative ‘charlatans who claim to speak in the name of principle but actually traffic in conspiracism and dishonesty.’

Owens, who was not present, was criticized for her repeated suggestions that Israel may have played a part in Kirk’s death, which, at least at first, cast a somber tone over the occasion in Phoenix.

But Shapiro was first to send things off the rails.

He urged the audience: ‘We have an obligation to clarity and to honesty. This means that we actually have to be clear in the language that we use. We should not traffic in generality. We should not say things like, “They shot Charlie without specifying whom we mean by they.”‘

‘The person who allegedly shot Charlie Kirk and whom all the evidence points at all of it is a gay trans-loving furry,’ he went on, referring to the 22-year-old suspect in the Kirk assassination, Tyler Robinson.

Ben Shapiro criticized Tucker Carlson at the AmericaFest conference in Phoenix, Arizona, on Thursday in a hostile start to the event

Carlson responded with some barbs of his own, sending the event off the rails

Both men mentioned Candace Owens, who has repeatedly suggested that Israel is may be to blame when it comes to the killing of Kirk back in September

It was Carlson, though, who received the harshest treatment, as Shapiro continued to slam Owens, who has spearheaded some of the most viral and incendiary content about Kirk’s death, including claims that staff at Turning Point USA ‘betrayed’ their boss.

Shapiro said: ‘The people who refused to condemn Candace’s truly vicious attacks – and some of them are speaking here tonight – are guilty of cowardice. Yes, cowardice.

‘The fact that they have said nothing while Candace has been vomiting all sorts of hideous and conspiratorial nonsense into the public square for years is just as cowardly.’

Referring to Carlson, he said: ‘If you host a Hitler apologist, Nazi-loving, anti-American piece of refuse like Nick Fuentes… The person who said that Charlie Kirk was a, quote, “idiot”… you ought to own it.’

‘There is a reason that Charlie Kirk despised Nick Fuentes and indeed even chided Dinesh D’Souza for debating him.’

Carlson responded with his own barbs from the same stage.

‘That guy is pompous,’ Carlson began, panning Shapiro’s serious tone.

He said he “laughed” while watching snippets of Shapiro’s speech backstage.

‘Calls to deplatform at a Charlie Kirk event? That’s hilarious.’

Carlson also assured the crowd that he was not antisemitic after hosting Fuentes.

‘Antisemitism is not just naughty, it’s immoral,’ he announced.

He also complained about cancel culture, saying, ‘I have a right to question your motives. Actually, why can’t you answer the question? Why do you have to imply that some college kid is like some kind of Hitler-ite or something because he’s asking about an event? Like what?’

Carlson asserted: ‘It is okay to ask questions. And I thought that was, like, the whole reason we were against the left. They’re not going to force you to get up there and make ritual denunciations.

‘Because this isn’t my religion. It’s politics.’

The tone of the summit was a far cry from that of last year’s, where both Shapiro and Carlson asserted the US was entering its ‘golden age’.