Hip Hop/Rap
Cyndi Lauper doesn't believe in cancel culture and has no regrets over collaborating with Trump supporter Nicki Minaj
Cyndi Lauper says people are entitled to hold different political views.
Cyndi Lauper says she has no regrets about collaborating with Nicki Minaj, despite the rapper’s support for Donald Trump, because she doesn’t believe in cancel culture.
The ’80s pop icon - a long‑time Democrat supporter - approved a sample of Girls Just Wanna Have Fun for Minaj’s Pink Friday 2 album, and the pair performed Pink Friday Girls together in Brooklyn in 2024.
Asked by The Guardian if she wished she hadn’t teamed up with Minaj, Lauper replied: “No. First of all, I don’t believe in cancellation. And second of all, the fact that she did Girls Just Want to Have Fun musically – it’s a political thing anyway, babes.
“Girls just want to have fun. They’re entitled to a joyful experience in this world. Like it or not, we’re here. We’re not going out in the rice fields anymore.
“Yes, rise up and put your foot down, and she did. I don’t know what she’s doing now. “But I still don’t think you cancel people, because otherwise there’s no room for discussion.”
Meanwhile, Lauper has blasted "greedy and shortsighted" executives for their impact on music.
The Time After Time hitmaker has accused shareholders of squeezing people "dry", and damaging creativity by trying to replicate natural success when a song or album catches fire.
She told Billboard magazine: “The shareholders are not any of the creatives. If you squeeze people dry, you wreck it.
"When Michael [Jackson] sold 35 million copies [of Thriller] they didn’t view it as a phenomenon. They brought a chart in and said, ‘Well, next year…’ What?!
"You’re not making a car. It happened; it doesn’t mean it’s going to happen every year. Grow up and don’t be so greedy and shortsighted.”
