Nicki Minaj Explains Why She's Giving Geoffrey Owens $25,000 (Exclusive)
Nicki Minaj is all about giving back.
On Wednesday, the "MotorSport" rapper revealed on her Beats 1 Queen Radio show that she is donating $25,000 to former Cosby Show actor Geoffrey Owens after he was shamed for working at Trader Joe's. ET caught up with Minaj at the Daily Front Row Fashion Awards in NYC, where she explained why she wanted to help out the actor.
"Some people are on the internet and seeking attention, and he’s just the antithesis of that. So I felt like, 'Oh my God, could you imagine?'" she told ET during the event's red carpet. "We all have done jobs like that and I just thought, what if that were me? Or a family member and they were minding their own business, working to feed their family and somebody tried to humiliate them? I don’t like the way that feels."
Minaj, meanwhile, confirmed to ET that she was going to reach out to Owens, who is best known for playing Sondra Huxtable's doctor husband, Elvin Tibideaux, on The Cosby Show. "Tell him that I’m going to have my team contact him because I hope he doesn’t take it the wrong way," she said. "I just want to help him in any way I can."
During her radio show, the rapper was upset someone would take a photo of the actor while he was "bagging groceries to feed his family."
"That man is now getting so many opportunities," Minaj expressed. "I personally want to donate on behalf of Queen Radio $25,000 to Geoffrey Owens. You know why? Imma tell you something. This man is a whole f**king legend in these streets."
Owens made headlines this week after a woman snapped photos of him while he was working at the grocery store. The pictures were later published by multiple outlets. The 57-year-old actor then appeared on Good Morning America to talk about the attention he had received after being shamed for having a job at Trader Joe's. Owens, however, also received a slew of positive and supportive messages from fans and fellow actors.
Tyler Perry even tweeted that he was offering Owens a role on one of his OWN shows. ET sat down with Owens this week, where the actor expressed his gratitude and thanked Perry for the offer.
"That was kind of cool. I mean, that kind of sounded like he was saying, 'Come work with me.' I'm so, like, skeptical. Like, really?" Owens told ET. "Are you actually saying come work with me? Because we've never worked together before. So, that's a very, very generous thing for him to say. And we'll see what happens with that. But, that's encouraging."
Owens has actually stopped working at Trader Joe's for now but is thankful for the outpouring love and support.
"When I quit, the guys at the store said, you know, 'Don't quit, let's keep it open, let's have it like an indefinite leave of absence,'" he shared. "OK, that's cool, that's great, but basically I left at that point because I felt like, just for my personal sake, my dignity and my emotional wellbeing, I didn't want to be in the store while I felt like people might be staking out the place as they did, actually. People came to the store and they were staking it out and stuff. I didn't feel like that was going to be good for my spiritual being, so I felt like I needed to at least temporarily step out, and I think that was the wise thing to do, actually."
For more on Owens, watch below.
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