Dr. Fauci weighs in on Nicki Minaj's tweet about allegedly swollen testicles

The nation's top infectious disease expert has been forced to officially weigh in on a tweet from rapper Nicki Minaj baselessly claiming her cousin's friend got swollen testicles from a coronavirus vaccine.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, President Biden's chief medical adviser, was asked by CNN's Jake Tapper about a controversial tweet from Minaj, who announced Monday she wouldn't be attending the Met Gala because she's not vaccinated against COVID-19. Minaj insisted her cousin's friend "became impotent" after he received a vaccine and that his "testicles became swollen." Fauci was asked whether there's any evidence of the coronavirus vaccines causing reproductive issues in men or women. "The answer to that, Jake, is a resounding no," he said. "There's no evidence that it happens, nor is there any mechanistic reason to imagine that it would happen."

Fauci added that it's "very difficult" for health officials to combat the amount of misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines on social media and urged Minaj not to contribute to this spread, even if she might be "innocent" in doing so.

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"I'm not blaming her for anything," Fauci said, "but she should be thinking twice about propagating information that really has no basis except as a one-off anecdote, and that's not what science is all about."

Earlier on Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was also asked about Minaj's tweet. He told a reporter he's "not familiar" with her work but that "vaccines are wonderful and everybody should get them." Minaj responded by posting a 43-second mocking clip of herself responding in a fake British accent, informing Johnson that she's a "big, big star in the United States."