Nicki Minaj performs a medley of ‘Majesty,’ ‘Barbie Dreams,’ ‘Ganja Burn,’ and ‘FeFe’ at the 2018 Video Music Awards in New York City, USA on August 21, 2018. Screenshot by MTV International on Wikimedia Commons, under (CC BY 3.0). The Nicki Minaj vaccine controversy, heavily covered by international media and responded to by the likes of Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the United States’ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, British prime minister Boris Johnson and Trinidad and Tobago's health minister Terrence Deyalsingh, has taken an unexpected turn. On September 17, after local reporter Sharlene Rampersad contacted Minaj's Trinidad-based relatives for an interview—a request that was allegedly declined—Minaj reportedly took to her Instagram account to share Rampersad's telephone number—an ironic choice of platform, considering that she recently claimed “it's not that easy [for Trinbagonians] to get on Instagram.” Within minutes, as a result of the harassment that ensued from “The Barbz,” as Minaj's fan base is called, the journalist had to fend off hundreds of phone calls. .@CNN y’all are about to know how protective the barbz are towards @NICKIMINAJ and her family, you are not prepared. pic.twitter.com/UAJbTApj2h — Fabio ?? (@onikamajestyy) September 17, 2021 The posts in question appear to have since been taken down, but local social media users wasted no time in reporting Minaj's stories to Instagram, and urging the reporter—however comically—to seek legal redress. Meanwhile, Rampersad has deleted her Twitter account. What appears to have set Minaj off was the journalist's modus operandi. Regional news platform Loop reported that Rampersad asked Minaj's family for an interview via text message. Rampersad allegedly said that the Cable News Network (CNN) was in Trinidad pursuing the story—a claim that Global Voices has been unable to verify—and would reveal the family's personal information if they got an interview, whereas she would not. Minaj allegedly shared screenshots from this correspondence to her IG Story, calling the reporter “a dirty hoe”; Rampersad responded that she would be taking Minaj to court. Nicki Minaj says her family in Trinidad have been harassed and threatened by journalists. pic.twitter.com/s6AzYUN2lT — Pop Crave (@PopCrave) September 17, 2021 Doxxing, or the release of personal information, like phone numbers and addresses—usually online—is listed as an offence in Trinidad and Tobago's Cybercrime Bill, as it “can lead to actual physical harm” and irreparable damage to victims’ reputations and livelihoods. In the United States, where Minaj lives, the federal legislation against doxxing appears to apply to only certain categories of people. Rampersad's employer, Guardian Media, quickly issued a statement, which the local Facebook page Newsauce found “quite weak”: Sharlene Rampersad was following up on a legit story, and shouldn't have to face attacks…but blackmailing a potential source is poor form. The company's statement failed to address the journalists’ tactics, as this tweet also pointed out: Do you also denounce the threat of doxxing private citizens, their girlfriends, and any other people they know by your reporter? It appears that @NICKIMINAJ has the receipts showing that your reporter did that. https://t.co/fZCfJxPc5b — GaelicKat ?️?✒️ (@GaelicKat) September 17, 2021 Aaron Williams, the hip-hop editor for the popular culture website Uproxx, weighed in: [This] reporter crosses a line by intimating that a competing outlet, CNN, is also pursuing an interview. The texter suggests that CNN would reveal personal information about the cousin — something against the journalistic integrity policy of any legitimate news outlet — and assuring that the Guardian would not. Aside from being the dirtiest of dirty pool, this sort of thing isn’t common practice at most outlets and is actually against the law in many jurisdictions. […] While Nicki certainly has a right to be upset at the unsolicited contact, there’s 1. no proof that the texter actually is this person, and 2. absolutely no call to violate a person’s privacy to her 157 million Instagram followers, many of whom have previously shown a penchant for cyberbullying people […] However, if the person who reached out to her relations really is the named reporter, then shame on her as well for violating so many tenets of journalistic integrity in the pursuit of a quote. She should, however, be reprimanded by her employer, not terrorized by online vigilantes at the behest of an angry musician — especially not one distracting from the serious work being done to combat the spread of a deadly pandemic.