Pink Friday rapper Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty — famously known as Nicki Minaj — has been sued by a former tour employee who claimed she struck him across the face during a heated exchange.
In a complaint filed on Friday (US time) in Los Angeles Superior Court, a man named Brandon Garrett, claims he was working as Minaj’s manager during her Pink Friday 2 Tour when he was allegedly struck by the Queen rapper.
He is now suing the rapper for assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress and is seeking exemplary damages and general damages.
According to the complaint, which has been shared by both TMZ and Variety, the alleged incident took place backstage on April 21, 2024, at Little Caesars Arena in Detroit.
After Garrett had returned from running errands for Minaj, her head of security Larry Dathan allegedly told him that Minaj summoned him to her dressing room.
When he arrived, Garrett claimed that other employees were present in the room including Dathan, another tour employee Luke Montgomery and her former manager Deb Antney.
The complaint then alleges that the “Coco Chanel” rapper began berating staff, and claiming they didn’t know “not knowing what they are supposed to do, and who reports to who”, before taking aim at Montgomery.
Minaj then asked Montgomery what his position was, which included tasks like “venue dressing room set-up, private jet set-up, hotel room set-up, quick change room refreshments, and tour bus set-up”.
“Mr. Montgomery mentioned these duties were in addition to any requests from [Minaj] communicated by [Garrett], including food orders, drinks, personal items, baby items, and, most notably, prescriptions,” the complaint reads.
When Minaj discovered that Garrett had asked Montgomery to pick up her prescription — which he said was because he was preoccupied with other tour tasks — Garret claimed Minaj became “visibly upset” and began yelling things at him, like “Are you fucking crazy having him pick up my prescription? You have lost your fucking mind and if my husband were here, he would knock out your fucking teeth”.
Garrett alleged Minaj continued to yell at him, telling him his “life was over”, before striking him on the right side of his face with an open hand.
“At this point, [Minaj] open-handedly struck [Garrett] on the right side of his face, causing his head to swing backwards as his hat flew off his head,” the complaint reads, per Variety.
In addition to that, the complaint claimed Nicki struck him a second time, on his right wrist, knocking documents he was holding onto the floor.
Following the alleged altercation, Garrett claimed the “Roman’s Revenge” rapper told him to “get the fuck out”. He then quickly exited the room and locked himself inside a restroom for hours.
After the ordeal, Garret claimed Atney sent him a notice that said he would not be going on the bus to the next Prink Friday 2 Tour stop, which was Chicago.
Nicki Minaj’s lawyer slams allegations
Following the initial report by TMZ, Minaj’s lawyer Judd Burstein claimed that there has been “no complaint served upon Mrs. Petty”.
“At this time, no complaint has been served upon Mrs. Petty and therefore, we are unaware of the specific allegations,” Burstein told the publication.
“However, if the lawsuit is as reported by TMZ, it is completely false and frivolous. We are confident that the matter brought by this ex-assistant will be resolved swiftly in Mrs Petty’s favour.”
At the time of writing, no further developments have been made regarding the allegations against Minaj.
Image source: Getty Images
