- - 6 of Trevor Noah’s most memorable moments from the 2026 Grammys, including that Nicki Minaj comment and Bad Bunny performance pressure

Kaitlin ReillyFebruary 2, 2026 at 6:00 AM

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Trevor Noah at the 68th Annual Grammy Awards. (Francis Specker/CBS via Getty Images)

The 68th Annual Grammys were held Sunday at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, the last time former Daily Show host Trevor Noah is expected to emcee the event.

Noah joked at last year’s show that the 67th annual event might be his final appearance onstage, telling the audience, “There's been a few changes in Washington, so I'm gonna enjoy tonight because this may be my last time I get to host anything in this country.” In fact, Noah got one more shot at hosting the Grammys, a gig he’s had since 2021. The South African comedian — also a nominee at the awards show in the Best Audio Book, Narration and Storytelling Recording category, which he lost to the Dalai Lama — used his time onstage for a mix of political jokes and pop culture references.

Noah talks about how times have changed … or not

In his opening monologue, Noah reflected on how different this year’s Grammys were from the 1999 Grammys, when Lauryn Hill — who performed this year for the first time in more than 25 years — last took the stage.

“You understand how long ago that was?” Noah said. “Back in 1999, the president had a sex scandal, people thought computers were about to destroy the world, and Diddy was arrested. Boy, how times have changed.”

Noah calls out Nicki Minaj

Noah took the time to shout out many of the stars in the audience at the Grammys this year.

“There are so many stars in this room, I feel like I’m at Jeff Bezos’s wedding, but with more Black people,” he joked.

But there was one missing artist whom he called out by name during his opening monologue: Nicki Minaj, who has been criticized by many in the industry for her support of the current presidential administration.

“She is still at the White House with Donald Trump, discussing very important issues,” Noah said, of Minaj, who spoke at an event alongside Trump last week and referred to herself as his “No. 1 fan.”

Noah then impersonated Trump talking to Minaj, saying, “Actually, Nicki, I have the biggest a**. I know they say it's you, but it's me. Look at it, baby: Wap, wap, wap.”

Noah reminds us all of that Coldplay cheating scandal

“Olivia Dean is also here, nominated for best new artist,” Noah said in his monologue. “You should be nominated for the most amazing and thoughtful artist, because she fought Ticketmaster to stop resellers from ripping fans off — which is amazing, because if the fans can’t afford tickets, we can’t have live music, and without concerts, how would we find out which CEOs are having affairs on the Jumbotron?”

Noah reflects on Kendrick Lamar’s feud with Drake

Noah told one nominee at the event, the rapper Kendrick Lamar, that he would not be making any jokes at his expense.

“I thought about writing a few jokes, roasting you,” Noah told Lamar, who famously dragged his Canadian rival Drake in a very personal diss track, “Not Like Us.” “But then I remembered what you can do to light-skinned dudes from other countries. Yeah, my delegation and I are still recovering from the pain. So I'm just saying 'Congratulations.'”

Noah tries to push Bad Bunny to break his Super Bowl contract

Although he was a nominee for Album of the Year, Bad Bunny was not permitted to perform at the Grammys, under a clause in his contract for the Super Bowl, where he will appear at half-time on Feb. 8. Noah, however, wasn’t quite able to let this go, and repeatedly tried to goad the Puerto Rican icon into singing. Eventually, Noah recited the lyrics of one of Bad Bunny’s hits in English, until the two broke out into song together.

“If they sue you, that’s not on me,” Noah said.

Noah reminds us that Pharrell is 52

Pharrell Williams accepted the Dr. Dre Global Impact Award from Q-Tip and told the audience, “I’m 52. I get to do this every day. If you do what you love every day, you’ll get paid for free.”

Noah then expressed what the rest of the audience was thinking: “Congratulations to Pharrell on the award — but also on looking like that at 52.”

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”