We nearly had a conniption when we heard Nicki Minaj was rapping, "I'm a Republican voting for Mitt Romney / You lazy bitches is fucking up the economy" and, fortunately, were relieved to find out that, yes, as Minaj now claims, it was all part of her multiple-personality schtick and that she's an Obama supporter after all. But, in what was perhaps more interesting news, Obama seems to not only have heard about Nicki Minaj's verse but also sufficiently analyzed it, telling a Florida radio station this morning that Minaj simply "likes to play different characters."

While that's also what we'd really, really like to believe, there's an extra wrinkle: we don't know what we should we make of this post by the Voice's Michael Musto last week, asserting that Minaj is indeed a Republican who "divulges her political leaning to people privately, and has avoided saying it on the record so far (except, arguably, for this rap), but believe me, the woman's a Republican!!!" Musto, a seasoned veteran of the gossip-writing trade added, "I've been doing this a long time. I'm good at what I do. You have to trust me, people." And, though we were surprised to hear this news at first, we do remember hearing this assertion a while back from another credible source so ... where does that leave things? She's voting for Romney/she's an Obama supporter but she's a Republican/this is an elaborate performance art piece that will all lead up to the unveiling of her fiscally conservative alter-ego, "Romney Zolanski," and the transformation will be documented by Casey Affleck. 

You can listen to the entire interview Obama gave to a Florida radio station, below:


[via nymag/Buzzfeed]