Mom of one and Grammy award-winning artist Nicki Minaj just gave a masterclass in gentle parenting... a 22-year-old man.
On Thursday, Dec. 14, Minaj—whose real name is Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty—noticed Twitch superstar Kai Cenat was wearing nail polish during an appearance on his newly-reinstated channel following the release of her new album, Pink Friday 2.
“You got on nail polish?” Minaj calmly asked the 22-year-old social media star.
“No, no, no, woah,” Cenat responded immediately, automatically defensive. “Woah. Hold on, no! This is… I get manicures, I’m clean!”
Unfazed by Cenat’s combative response, Minaj took a sip of her drink before calmly responding: “So why didn’t you just say yes when I asked you: ‘Is that nail polish’?”
“It’s not!” Cenat continued to try to argue. “It’s, uh…” “Minaj then chimed in softly: “Clear nail polish?”
“No, it’s not nail polish,” Cenat argued once again, before Minaj clarified that “gel polish” is, actually, nail polish.
“But it looks nice?” Cenat asked, seemingly seeking equal parts permission and approval for wearing clear nail polish.
“I didn’t say it didn’t,” Nicki responded, again as calmly as possible. “You just became defensive because you’re insecure.”
@whoiisonika ♬ Beep Beep - Nicki Minaj
A clip of the exchange was posted to TikTok and, to date, has garnished over 3.4 million likes and over 10,000 comments.
Viewers were quick to praise Minaj for using her gentle parenting skills on the overly defensive 22-year-old.
For the uninitiated, “gentle parenting” refers to a parenting style that “acknowledges children need both connection (warmth, responsiveness, kindness, gentleness) and structure (routines, expectations, skill-building),” Andrew Garner, a pediatrician who co-wrote the American Academy of Pediatrics’ (AAP) policy on preventing toxic childhood stress, told the Washington Post back in 2022.
"I cannot stop watching this clip," one viewer commented. "She is so real for this gentle parenting moment."
"I love this," another wrote. "She's so calm and he's losing his mind."
"her soft (and) sweet 'you need coddling' voice paired with her 'yeah dumdum' face is just perfect," another viewer commented.
"Nicki remained so gentle. She had (a) chance to embarrass his a** more severely but didn't," another noted.
During the same appearance, Minaj shared why she has a soft spot for the young social media star.
“His mom is from my country, so when I heard that, I took a particular... not necessarily liking for you but caring about you," she explained. "I need to make sure that you are being lifted up so that you can do all the amazing things you've been doing.
"You have created a dope lane for yourself. And to be that young and to already have something like this mastered, I didn't have it all figured out at that age," she added. "So I have to give you your props, and the fact that you love and respect your mama."
Cenat has more than 8 million Twitch subscribers, making him the platform’s largest broadcaster. In April, he was inexplicably banned from the streaming platform, sparking confusion among his many fans—including Minaj. During a recent Q&A with fans, Minaj said she would love to appear on his channel in the future should the broadcaster ever return.
One week later, Cenat was back on the platform and, well, you can’t say Minaj doesn’t make good on her promises! The rapper's appearance on Cenat's channel eventually broke Twitch’s viewership records. According to StreamCharts, the livestream peaked at 348,593 viewers before stabilizing at 227,874.
Gentle parenting pays off in more ways than one, folks.
