Trevor Noah takes aim to Donald Trump and Nicki Minaj in brutal Grammys joke

The Grammys host did not hold back – even referencing the Epstein files during his speech in front of A-list celebrities at the music event of the year in Los Angeles

Grammy Awards host Trevor Noah has taken aim at Donald Trump and Nicki Minaj in his speech at the glitazy awards ceremony.

After Bruno Mars and Rose opened the show with their single APT, Noah said Minaj, who recently visited the White House and expressed her support for US President Mr Trump, was “not here”.

He said: “Nicki Minaj is not here, she is not here, she is still at the White House with Donald Trump discussing very important issues, actually.

In an impersonation of the president, he joked: “‘Nicki, I have the biggest a**, I have it, everybody’s saying it Nicki, I know they say to you, but it’s me, wop, wop, wop, look at it, look at it, baby’.”

Noah also made reference to the release of the Epstein files.

He said: “The one and only Ms Lauryn Hill will be performing on that stage tonight, which is insane when you think about it, because the last time Lauryn Hill performed at the Grammys was in 1999, you understand how long ago that was?

“Back in 1999, the president had had a sex scandal, people thought computers were about to destroy the world, and (P) Diddy was arrested. Boy, how times have changed.”

Speaking about the star-studded crowd, which included Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator, Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga, Noah said he felt like he was at Amazon boss Jeff Bezos’s wedding “but with way more black people”.

It comes after artists protested against US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers deployed in US cities on the red carpet.

Singers Joni Mitchell and Kehlani, and Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon were among the artists wearing “Ice out” and “Be Good” pins at the awards.

Kehlani, 30, cursed Ice in her acceptance speech as she won her first Grammy for best R&B performance for Folded.

She said: “I hope everybody’s inspired to join together as a community of artists and speak out against what’s going on. F*** Ice.”

Vernon, 44, whose group Bon Iver is nominated for best alternative music album, said he wore a whistle as a tribute to the legal observers documenting the actions of federal agents in the streets.

“I think there’s a reason that music exists and it’s to heal and to bring people together,” he told The Associated Press. “But the real work are those observers on the on the ground in Minneapolis. We just want to shout them out.”

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers have been deployed in US cities as part of Mr Trump’s mass deportation initiative, most notably in Minnesota and Minneapolis, where around 2,000 have been deployed.

Officers have come under strong criticism over their aggressive approach and most recently, Ice agents fatally shot two people on the streets of Minneapolis: Renee Good on January 7 and Alex Pretti on January 24.

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