Former CNN host Don Lemon is standing by his reporting after facing social media backlash from rapper Nicki Minaj and a warning from the Department of Justice following an anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protest that disrupted at a church service in St. Paul, Minnesota, over the weekend.
Lemon told Fox News Digital that he has been unfairly “cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist,” while also facing “a barrage of violent threats, along with homophobic and racist slurs” online. The controversy erupted after protesters stormed Cities Church on Sunday, where Pastor David Easterwood—who is alleged to be serving as the acting ICE field office director in Minnesota—oversees operations.
Newsweek has reached out to Lemon and a representative for Minaj via email on Monday for comment.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump’s second term has largely been characterized by his immigration and border security agenda—issues he emphasized heavily during his campaign in 2024—vowing to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history when it comes to illegal migrants and criminals.
Since December, Minnesota has been at the center of the federal government’s aggressive immigration efforts. The Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Operation Metro Surge has resulted in hundreds of arrests, sparking widespread backlash.
Tensions escalated earlier this month after two separate shootings involving ICE agents—one that killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old American citizen, and another that left Venezuelan migrant Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis injured during an attempted detention.
The protest at Cities Church is the latest in a string that have taken place in Minnesota in recent weeks.
What To Know
Anti-ICE protesters, organized by Black Lives Matter Minnesota, disrupted services at Cities Church on Sunday by chanting “ICE out” and “Justice for Renee Good.” The protesters accused Easterwood of overseeing ICE operations involving what they characterized as violent tactics and illegal arrests. Easterwood’s personal information matches that of the Easterwood identified in court filings as the acting director of the ICE St. Paul field office, and he appeared alongside DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at a Minneapolis press conference last October.
Lemon documented the event for his independent YouTube channel, which he launched after being fired from CNN in 2023. He maintains he was covering the protest as a journalist and had no prior knowledge the group would target the church. “I have no affiliation to that organization. I didn’t even know they were going to this church until we followed them there,” Lemon said in a video posted to Instagram.
Minaj, however, posted on X calling Lemon a “thug” and demanding his arrest, writing: “DON ‘C*** S***** LEMON IS DISGUSTING. HOW DARE YOU? I WANT THAT THUG IN JAIL!!!!! HE WOULD NEVER DO THAT TO ANY OTHER RELIGION. LOCK HIM UP!!!!!”
Lemon fired back in a lengthy video response, stating in part: “Nicki Minaj, stop talking about s*** for which you know nothing about. This is out of your depth. You are a homophobic bigot. You don’t care about African Americans and you’re not an African American. From what I know, you are reportedly an undocumented citizen so you should be deported under Donald Trump’s rules.”
Minaj, who was born in Trinidad, appears to be in the middle of a political pivot. The rapper spoke out against Trump in 2016 rapping “island girl, Donald Trump want me go home,” and saying she disagreed with his deportation policies, and then in 2018 speaking out against Trump’s family separation policies. However, his second term in office has seen her take a different approach.
She recently addressed the United Nations in November as a guest of the Trump administration to discuss violence against Christians in Nigeria. Minaj also appeared at a Turning Point USA (TPUSA) event alongside Erika Kirk, the wife of late right-wing influencer Charlie Kirk, where she spoke favorably of the Trump administration.
Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon warned Lemon that he is “on notice” on X for potential Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act violations. The FACE Act makes it a federal crime to use or threaten force to interfere with a person’s right to religious freedom at a place of worship, carrying potentially steep fines and jail time. Dhillon suggested in an interview with conservative YouTube host Benny Johnson that Lemon’s journalist role doesn’t shield him from potential criminal liability as part of “a criminal conspiracy.”
What People Are Saying
Don Lemon told Fox News Digital: “It’s notable that I’ve been cast as the face of a protest I was covering as a journalist—especially since I wasn’t the only reporter there. That framing is telling…If this much time and energy is going to be spent manufacturing outrage, it would be far better used investigating the tragic death of Renee Nicole Good—the very issue that brought people into the streets in the first place. I stand by my reporting.”
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, the head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, wrote on X: “A house of worship is not a public forum for your protest! It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal criminal and civil laws! Nor does the First Amendment protect your pseudo journalism of disrupting a prayer service. You are on notice.”
Nekima Levy Armstrong, who leads the local grassroots civil rights organization Racial Justice Network and participated in this week’s protest, told the Associated Press: “When you think about the federal government unleashing barbaric ICE agents upon our community and all the harm that they have caused, to have someone serving as a pastor who oversees these ICE agents, is almost unfathomable to me. If people are more concerned about someone coming to a church on a Sunday and disrupting business as usual than they are about the atrocities that we are experiencing in our community, then they need to check their theology and the need to check their hearts.”
Monique Cullars-Doty, Black Lives Matter Minnesota co-founder, told AP: “If you got a head — a leader in a church — that is leading and orchestrating ICE raids, my God, what has the world come to? We can’t sit back idly and watch people go and be led astray.”
Nicki Minaj responded to some internet backlash after criticizing Lemon, writing on X: “And I purposely wrote it that way b/c I knew that would be the only way to get the c*** s***** to post about it. They would’ve all collectively ignored the despicable behavior displayed by Lemon head. I’m glad they’re angry. They’re about to get angrier.”
What Happens Next
The DOJ is investigating potential FACE Act violations, with Dhillon warning that “the fullest force of the federal government is going to come down and prevent this from happening and put people away for a long, long time.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi has stated that any violations of federal law will be prosecuted.
Reporting from the Associated Press contributed to this article.
