Hollywood has spent years sneering at President Trump’s supporters from a safe distance.
But some of the biggest names in entertainment are done playing that game.
And now Nicki Minaj and Dean Cain are stepping into Washington, DC for a live competition that puts American small businesses front and center — and the left can’t stand it.
What the SBA Is Actually Doing Here
The Small Business Administration, under Administrator Kelly Loeffler, announced the “Million Dollar Pitch Competition” — a live, televised event set for September 18 in Washington, DC, where five entrepreneur finalists will pitch their businesses for a share of $1 million in prize money funded by Clover Network, Inc.
Nicki Minaj joins the judging panel alongside private equity fund manager Grant Cardone and Airbnb co-founder and US Chief Design Officer Joe Gebbia. Dean Cain serves as host.
The prize structure leaves no finalist empty-handed. First place takes $400,000, second place gets $250,000, third earns $150,000, fourth receives $125,000, and fifth still walks away with $75,000.
The five finalists are Compotech Inc. of Brewer, Maine; Winton Machine of Suwanee, Georgia; Plas-Tech Tooling of Garner, Iowa; Red River of Gillette, Wyoming; and VetPowered LLC of San Diego, California. Defense technology, metalworking, plastic mold manufacturing, pressure vessels, machinery — these are real American companies doing real work, not Silicon Valley pitch decks dressed up in buzzwords.
Loeffler put it plainly: “Great American entrepreneurs themselves, Nicki Minaj, Grant Cardone, Joe Gebbia, and Dean Cain will only add to the excitement of this historic celebration of free enterprise in the finale of our Million Dollar Pitch Competition.”
She continued: “Their presence will be invaluable in highlighting the unique and inspiring stories of the five finalists competing for $1 million in growth capital, and the importance of Main Street businesses in powering American strength.”
The event also ties directly into the SBA’s Freedom 250 initiative, a public-private effort launched by the Trump administration in 2025 to mark the country’s 250th anniversary.
Nicki Minaj Has Made Her Position Clear
Minaj wasted no time expressing enthusiasm after the announcement, posting on X: “This is a major, MAJOR KEY. Sooooooooooo looking forward to this!!! Imagine being a part of the Trump Administration’s initiative to support small businesses. Let’s GO!!!!!!!!!!”
That energy is not new. Minaj called herself the president’s “number one fan” at the Treasury Department’s Trump Accounts Summit earlier this year. She told the crowd: “I am probably the president’s number one fan, and that’s not going to change.”
She also said: “The hate or what people have to say, it does not affect me at all. It actually motivates me to support him more.”
In an appearance on The Katie Miller Podcast, Minaj explained what drew her toward Trump in the first place. “When I saw how he was being treated over and over and over, I just couldn’t handle it,” she said. “I felt that…a lot of that bullying, and the smear campaigns and all of the lying, I felt that that had been done to me for so many years.”
And she added: “And I was watching it in real time happen to someone else, and I didn’t think he deserved it.”
That is not a calculated political pivot for attention. That is a person who watched the same machine that chewed her up go to work on someone else and decided she had seen enough.
Trump has returned the affection. At a White House Black History Month event earlier this year, he singled her out: “I love Nicki Minaj. She was here a couple of weeks ago.” He added: “And she gets it. And, more importantly, she gets it.”
Dean Cain Has Never Hidden Where He Stands
Cain is not a recent convert looking to stay relevant. He publicly endorsed Trump in 2016, 2020, and 2024. In a 2025 interview with Variety, he said: “I love President Trump. I’ve been friends with him forever.” He went further: “Trump is actually one of the most empathetic, wonderful, generous people you’ll ever meet.”
Cain also signed on as an honorary ICE agent in 2025, saying at the time: “I felt it was important to join with our first responders to help secure the safety of all Americans, not just talk about it, so I joined up.”
The man played Superman on television. He has spent decades in an industry that punishes conservatives for speaking up. And he has spoken up anyway, every single time.
That matters. The entertainment world is not short on people who privately support Trump while staying quiet in public to protect their careers. Cain has never been that person.
What This Event Actually Represents
The format draws obvious comparisons to *Shark Tank* and to *The Apprentice*, the business competition Trump hosted for 14 seasons before entering politics. But the finalists here are not aspiring moguls pitching app ideas. They are manufacturers, defense suppliers, and machinery builders — the kinds of companies that actually employ Americans in actual trades.
The SBA said finalists were evaluated on strengthening American competitiveness, economic impact and quality jobs, examples of small businesses punching above their weight, and business fundamentals and execution readiness. That is a serious set of criteria, even if the celebrity packaging makes it easy to dismiss.
And the celebrity packaging is the point. Small manufacturers rarely get national attention. They do not have publicists. They do not trend on social media. Putting Nicki Minaj in the same room as a pressure vessel manufacturer from Gillette, Wyoming is a way to force the cameras to show up.
Loeffler framed it in those terms: “As our nation marks its 250th anniversary, the SBA is celebrating America’s legacy of free enterprise through the Million Dollar Pitch Competition — a historic live event showcasing the essential contributions of America’s small businesses.”
She added: “Their participation brings invaluable real-world perspective as our five exceptional finalists compete for a share of $1 million in growth capital. I look forward to joining them next month as we recognize the innovators and job creators who power American strength.”
Free enterprise is not an abstraction. It is the machine that built this country, and it runs on the kinds of businesses that do not normally get a national stage. This event gives them one.
The left will call it a reality show stunt. But the same crowd that spent years demanding government solutions to every economic problem is not in any position to lecture working Americans about how to celebrate the businesses that keep their communities alive.
Minaj and Cain are not doing this for the optics. They have both taken real heat for their support of Trump at a time when Hollywood makes clear it does not forgive that kind of loyalty. They are showing up anyway — and so are five American companies that earned their place on that stage.
Sources: Breitbart, Fox News Digital, New York Post, SBA.gov, The Katie Miller Podcast (via Yahoo Entertainment/Billboard), Variety (via NBC News), PBS NewsHour